Indy Johar is an architect, systems thinker, and co-founder of Dark Matter Labs, a transdisciplinary research and design practice pioneering new frameworks for a just and sustainable future. His work spans policy, finance, technology, and the built environment, with a radical aim: to reimagine the deep structures that underpin how we live in order to meet the scale of the climate crisis.

In this presentation from In Focus: Research—co-presented with Future Observatory at The Design Museum—Johar lays out the urgency of that task, arguing that replacing nearly 80% of our current energy sources is nothing less than the work of building a new kind of civilization.

For Johar, this transformation is not about incremental change but about rethinking systems at every level—from the flows of materials and labour that sustain our world, to the very "deep code" of our economies. Far from a cause for despair, he frames this as an extraordinary opportunity to design a more equitable, resilient future.

Watch his talk to hear why the transition ahead is both a clear-eyed diagnosis and an invitation: to move beyond being passive victims of change, and instead become active partners in shaping it.