Designing for a sustainable society is no longer enough—designers must aim for circular and regenerative societies. However, we cannot rely on fear or guilt to fuel lasting change.

It’s crucial to show how this evolution brings exciting opportunities for innovation and win-wins across the board.

While Scandinavia often leads in the sustainability conversation, Japan has its own examples of regenerative practices—smaller in scale, or under different names.

Through the conference themes of Steps Forward, Design in Democracy, and Design Rehab, this session aims to highlight these emerging efforts, contributing to increased visibility and encouragement for Japan-based designers and beyond.

Join Rebekah Cheng as she shares insights from Fabric’s ongoing work in Nakameguro, Tokyo, where her team is scaling place-based innovation for circular living.

By sharing about both the highs and lows of the process, Rebekah will emphasize the importance of stakeholder engagement, strategic reframing of design problems, and leadership through optimism.

You will leave this talk feeling empowered to, regardless of their profession, recognize their agency as designers with the power to inspire behavior shifts that ripple through society.

Rebekah is currently a Strategic Design Lead at Fabric, working with clients like Panasonic, Amazon, Nestlé, and Melbourne Business School.

Her work spans program design, strategy development, qualitative research, and prototyping, drawing on diverse career experiences – from managing international partnerships for Ishinomaki Laboratory, a DIY furniture brand in rural Japan, to teaching urban planning to high school students through UC Berkeley, and volunteering with refugee support initiatives in Greece.

Whether she’s navigating Tokyo's design and sustainability scene or brainstorming with global clients, she has learned that the most exciting innovations happen when diverse perspectives collide. Cross-cultural, interdisciplinary connections with an eye toward designing a better world drive her work and life.

She is guided by a belief that design can be a powerful tool for bringing people together and creating meaningful change. With how our world continues to evolve, she is now exploring what that means in terms of planet-centered and regenerative systems, diving into circular design and participatory practices.