When the next step isn't clear or a project isn't unfolding as expected - particularly where different sectors, disciplines and perspectives meet - I work with teams to explore what's happening and spot what's sitting just outside their field of view.

I draw on design research, systems and futures thinking, behavioural insight, participatory methods, visual research and learning design to investigate what's shaping a project, introducing the right tools at the right time to understand what needs attention and determine what to do next.Sometimes that's research, sometimes it's a workshop, learning programme, framework, a change in mindset, coaching or new direction - the intervention depends on the diagnosis.

Research & frameworks

I develop independent research, methods and frameworks exploring questions around people, place and systems to strengthen connections and inform strategy across different sectors, disciplines and perspectives. These projects are an ongoing part of my thinking and practice.

Pre-Collaborative City

Research and writing exploring what needs to be understood before introducing global ideas, frameworks and ambitions into a place-based context.These insights are useful if you are a public sector research or engagement lead looking to translate broader ideas and ambitions into a collaborative local strategy.

Bridge to Belonging

An interdisciplinary research framework synthesising hyperlocal social, environmental and economic priorities to create guiding principles for a sustainable urban development.This framework is useful if you are a public sector, architectural or strategic design practitioner working on development in an area of urban inequality.

Civic Sketchbook

A creative ethnography method using walking, observation and photography to notice the character, continuity and lived experience of place.This method is useful if you are looking for a creative way to explore place identity and understand who and what is already there before considering relevant and appropriate solutions.

Consultancy projects

Alongside my independent research, I undertake selected consultancy projects where the questions, methods and ideas I explore can be helpful in particular situations.

Working across public, private, academic and social innovation contexts on very different projects - from climate strategy and public health to design education and social enterprise - I’m often looking for the same thing: what hasn't yet been seen, understood or connected.My experience includes the World Health Organization, Design Council, University of Bath, local authorities, architecture and design practices, social enterprises and community-led initiatives.Here are several examples:

World Health Organization — Uncovering a new learning opportunity for global–local health messaging

Global · Public Health

Problem

Feedback on WHO's graphic health warnings on cigarette packets suggested audiences were becoming desensitised to messaging focused heavily on adverse health effects. The organisation wanted to explore what else might be possible.

Gap

The challenge wasn't simply to identify which messages worked or didn't. It was to understand what might be missing from existing messaging, particularly whether other human motivations were being overlooked.

Intervention

A new analytical lens and capacity-building framework — analysed 574 graphic health warnings from 37+ countries using Schwartz's Theory of Universal Human Values, revealing underused motivational themes. Translated findings into visual analysis, narrative insight and practical tools for WHO programme leaders and country-level practitioners.

Outcome

Findings contributed to the 10th WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic and gave WHO's Tobacco-Free Initiative an additional evidence-based way to explore health communication and potential capacity-building across countries.

Design Council / London Borough of Hounslow — Reframing a climate intervention around local needs

London · Climate & Place

Problem

Hounslow Borough Council's Net Zero team wanted to strengthen community cohesion and tackle climate change in one of the borough's most deprived areas. An early idea was a parklet focused on air quality, transport and public space, but questions remained about how it would be used.

Gap

The project approached the problem primarily through a climate and public-space lens. The team needed to understand the wider context, including what might prevent residents from participating in community life, before deciding what intervention would be useful.

Intervention

Design research and course correction — working with Design Council colleagues, I guided the team through field research, a ward walk and collaborative workshops. We mapped resident needs across safety, shelter, health, education and belonging, then investigated the local context.

Outcome

The project shifted from designing a parklet to reframing the problem itself. The original idea was dropped and the brief rewritten around a youth-centric community hub and trusted council presence, creating a stronger basis for addressing social and environmental needs together.

Design Council / Essex County Council — Finding new entry points for young people into climate action

UK · Climate

Problem

Essex County Council was developing a Youth Climate Ambassador Network, but early research suggested most students had low interest in climate action.

Gap

The council needed to understand what young people cared about, rather than assuming climate itself was the starting point.

Intervention

A co-creation workshop — co-designed and facilitated a session bringing 15–18-year-olds and teachers together to explore what a positive future for Essex might look like, then identify where their priorities connected to climate.

Outcome

The workshop surfaced ten distinct, student-led themes — from Circular Communities to Future of Work — giving Essex County Council and the Climate Action Commission evidence-based priorities for youth engagement, alongside a workshop model that could be used more widely.

University of Bath — Building shared foundations for Doughnut Economics-inspired local policy

UK · Economic Development

Problem

Interest in Doughnut Economics was growing across research, policy and civil society in Bath, but engagement remained largely siloed, limiting opportunities to explore its implications collectively.

Gap

Cross-city stakeholders needed ways to encounter, interpret and apply the framework together, despite different levels of prior knowledge, professional interests and perspectives.

Intervention

A varied local learning ecosystem — designed and led a nine-week readalong, 24 workshops, public lecture, urban photo walk and online community, creating multiple low-pressure entry points through which people could build confidence and explore the framework in relation to Bath and each other.

Outcome

The programme created a stronger shared foundation across sectors and enabled participants to develop a locally grounded understanding of the relationship between social and environmental priorities — including independently reframing a long-standing local tension through a Doughnut lens.

100% Design / London Design Festival — Making complex systems tangible through experiential design

UK · Design

Problem

Complex ideas around sustainability, food and health can be difficult to understand through information alone, particularly in an industry dominated by fast-moving trends.

Gap

There was an opportunity to move beyond trends-led inspiration and give audiences something they could encounter, experience and discuss.

Intervention

Experiential learning through public installations — designed three creative, participatory experiences — Farm Kitchen, Maker Carousel and Mattergarden — bringing sustainability concepts to life for international industry professionals attending 100% Design.

Outcome

The installations reached 25,000+ international industry professionals, creating accessible, hands-on ways for audiences to encounter and discuss emerging ideas around sustainability, circular design, the future of food and the built environment.

“Carra is a driven, intelligent and curious colleague - when working with us at the Design Council, she helped to deliver a complex project with a range of stakeholders. She pushed participants to think deeper about the work they were aiming to deliver, and ultimately created a more meaningful process. This, in turn, led to longer-lasting outcomes.“

— Emily Whyman, Senior Programme Manager, Design Council

“I would describe Carra as rigorously creative, in that she combines systems thinking and critical thinking with the spontaneity needed for new ideas. Not many people can do this. She questions everything and because she's also a terrific person, connects with people on many levels. It's an impressive combination of skills for change-making. Working with Carra definitely made me a better designer.”

— Darren Evans, Strategic Designer and Design Council Expert

“Carra brought insight, thoughtfulness, and a deep sense of curiosity to the work we did together at the WHO on tobacco control. She approaches complex challenges with care and intellectual rigor, always seeking to understand the deeper dynamics at play. At the same time, she brings real joy and warmth to a team - Carra made a lasting impact on the work and on me personally.“

— Dr Hebe Gouda, Project Officer, World Health Organization

Selected talks & publications

  • Research Contributor, 10th WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, WHO, 2025

  • “A Different Way”, online talk, RSA South West Coffeehouse, 2024

  • “Design, differently with Communities”, visioning script and presentation, Design for Planet, 2023

  • “Doughnut Economics: Can Bath Thrive like Amsterdam?”, live-streamed public lecture, Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution, 2023

  • Lead Author & Book Launch Presenter, “Crafting Connections with Clothing: Values, Influence and Relationships”, Chapter 17 in Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing and Textiles, Routledge, 2023

  • Researcher, Author & Presenter, All Sewn Up: Dismantling Fast Fashion Consumption as a Social Practice, conference paper, Sustainable Innovation Conference, UCA Centre for Sustainable Design, 2021

Previous work

Independent innovation and design practice
2009-2021

Founded and led an innovation and design practice spanning interiors, furniture and spatial design. Projects included circular furniture design and commercialisation; creative enterprise innovation; the renovation of a 15-room forest property connecting sustainable and regenerative materials with local ecology and skills; and three research-led London Design Festival installations (2013-2015) exploring emerging technologies and the future of food, design, making and the built environment.

About

Designer and applied researcher with extensive cross-sector experience spanning design, research, learning and social innovation.

I began my career in innovation and design, founding and leading an independent practice working across interiors, furniture and spatial design. The practice explored emerging technologies, new approaches to making and circular design through products, spaces and research-led installations. I became increasingly interested in understanding the evidence and wider systems behind the ideas I was developing, so I pursued an MSc in Sustainable Development in Practice, graduating with distinction in 2021.Since then, my work has increasingly focused on not only design, but understanding the relationships between people, places and systems that are necessary to inform, facilitate and shape it - and translating that understanding into strategies, learning, frameworks and practical interventions.

What needs to be understood before collaboration can begin?

Place-based collaborations often begin by bringing people together around a shared ambition. But people arrive with different experiences, knowledge, priorities, language and assumptions about the situation they are trying to change.When these differences aren't understood first, collaboration can become a negotiation between positions rather than an opportunity to develop shared understanding.

The most important work may happen before collaboration begins.

In development

I've been developing Pre-Collaborative City - a body of insights, methods and practical tools exploring what needs to be understood before introducing broader ideas, frameworks and ambitions into a local context, and before asking different sectors, disciplines and perspectives to work together.The thinking currently explores six areas:

01 / Arriving with a question, not a solution
Exploring why collaborative change begins with understanding context, recognising different forms of knowledge and being willing to ask: “What might we be missing?”02 / Developing shared language and definitions
Exploring how words carry different meanings, why assumptions create misunderstanding, and how shared language creates the foundation for collaboration.03 / Finding better entry points into conversations
Exploring how to begin conversations from what already matters to people, rather than only from what matters most to us.

04 / Recognising the meanings already in place
Learning to notice the stories, identities, histories and relationships that already exist within places and communities before attempting to change them.05 / Seeing what makes change possible
Exploring how behaviours emerge from wider systems, and how change becomes possible by understanding the conditions around it, rather than good intentions alone.06 / Learning to see before you start
Practical activities to help you develop curiosity, observation and contextual understanding before considering what might happen next.

I'm looking to connect with people working in this territory.

If you design, lead or support collaborative responses to complex place-based social and environmental challenges, I'd love to hear from you.I'm particularly interested in connecting with people who recognise the value of doing more of the thinking before getting everyone in the room - whether you're working in local government, research, design, academia, community development or elsewhere.I'm offering 30-minute knowledge-sharing conversations as a way to exchange experiences and perspectives. I'll also be sharing emerging tools, reflections and resources from the project as it develops.Email me or use the form, and I'll get back to you shortly.