At Casa IED, a conversation on design, ecology, and sustainability through the Lo–TEK vision
In a time marked by climate collapse, environmental extraction, and the growing limits of technological solutionism, designer and researcher Julia Watson proposes a radically different path: looking backward in order to imagine the future. As part of the “Plural Intelligences” series hosted by Casa IED, Watson will take part in a conversation dedicated to alternative approaches to design and sustainability, opening a dialogue on the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and its relevance for contemporary society.
The event, organized by IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, brings Watson into conversation with writer and Fordham University instructor Clara Ramazzotti. Together they will explore how ancestral systems developed by Indigenous communities across centuries can offer concrete responses to today’s ecological crises. Through her influential Lo–TEK framework, Watson argues that some of the most advanced technologies for climate resilience already exist — not in laboratories or smart cities, but in ancient practices rooted in reciprocal relationships with land, water, and ecosystems.
Australian-born and of Greco-Egyptian-English heritage, Watson has become an internationally recognized voice in ecological and decolonial design. Architect, educator, TED speaker, and author, she has dedicated her work to documenting Indigenous technologies that challenge dominant Western narratives of innovation. Her books Lo–TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism and Lo–TEK. Water. A Field Guide for TEKnology, developed in collaboration with Indigenous experts, map systems of environmental intelligence that have sustained communities for generations while maintaining ecological balance.
The conversation at Casa IED is part of a broader reflection on “plural intelligences” — the idea that knowledge is never singular and that contemporary culture must learn to engage with multiple ways of understanding the world. Watson’s contribution is particularly urgent today, as institutions, designers, and urban planners increasingly confront the failures of extractive development models and search for sustainable alternatives capable of addressing climate emergencies without reproducing colonial hierarchies.
By opening its doors to figures such as Julia Watson, Casa IED reinforces its role as a space for interdisciplinary dialogue where design intersects with politics, ecology, anthropology, and social justice. The event also reflects a growing international interest in reconnecting creativity with forms of knowledge historically marginalized or excluded from mainstream academic and technological discourse.
In Watson’s vision, sustainability is not simply a technical challenge but a cultural transformation. Her work suggests that resilience cannot emerge solely from innovation understood as novelty, but from the ability to listen to ancient systems of coexistence between humans and nature. In a world increasingly defined by environmental instability, Lo–TEK becomes not only a design methodology, but also an ethical and political invitation to rethink the future through the wisdom of the past.
Doors open at 6:30 pm, with the talk beginning at 7 pm at Casa IED (Salotto).
