Leyla Acaroglu

Eco Innovator (UnSchool) – Melbourne, Australia

Leyla Acaroglu is an Australian designer, sustainability innovator, and educator. She challenges people to think differently about how the world works. She connects systems, sustainability and design together as tools for addressing the planet’s biggest challenges. Leyla is internationally recognized as a leading force in the movement for a sustainable and circular future.

Leyla’s writing on systems-based approaches to complex problems has been featured in several publications, including Quartz and The New York Times. She has authored several handbooks for changemakers and continues to push for new ways of solving complex social problems through beautifully designed interventions.

“I really like this planet. I’m extremely grateful for all its quirky diversity and abundance. But the missing piece for me has always been this: how do natural systems sustain themselves, evolve, and produce so efficiently and beautifully? How does nature solve its own problems gracefully?”

She is the founder of two design agencies, Disrupt Design and Eco Innovators. She also founded the UnSchool, a pop-up program that disrupts the mainstream way that knowledge is gained and shared. Acaroglu developed the Disruptive Design Method, which is the backbone of her unique approach to design-led social change. In 2016, she was named the UNEP Champion of the Earth through the United Nations Environment Programme for her actions which have had a transformative and positive impact on the environment.

Acaroglu first was admitted to design school. After she found out about the harsh impact that the design industry had on waste, she quit design school. She then began to pursue a social science degree in environmental sustainability -foreshadowing her career as a sustainability advocate. She later received a PhD through the Department of Architecture and Design at RMIT, in Melbourne, Australia.

For Earth Repair, she took on a piece of land in Portugal that was once a dilapidated and abandoned farm in mid 2017. She founded the CO Project Farm as an ambitious living learning laboratory to apply her expertise in sustainable design and herself learn directly from being in relationship with nature. From June 2017 until May 2020, the sustainable design, restoration and transformation got underway with a team of skilled local craftspeople and a host of international volunteers.

“On My Quest To Figure Out How All The Magic Is Made, I Decided To Find A Laboratory Big Enough To Experiment With The Natural Principles That Make Life.”

Then the CO Project Farm hosted for almost 3 years many people interested in learning about systems regeneration, sustainable living and creative change-making. Many community open days were held, where people from fra-and-wide would come for a collaborative vegetarian cooking experience with local wine and all produce from the farm. 

CO stands for creative optimism: and the abandoned farm at the end of a dirt road in Central Portugal was set up to offer the inspiration and tools to help people contribute to designing a positive, regenerative and sustainable future. Developed by Leyla Acaroglu and the UnSchool team, the project was about exploring the possibilities of contemporary sustainability, sustainable agriculture and a space to run workshops for the UnSchool of Disruptive Design. We developed unique off-site programs and farm-based immersive learning experiences in sustainable living, organic agriculture and creative change-making and had hundreds of visitors every year. 

“Humans make linear systems that have negative externalities, but nature makes regenerative systems that adapt to sustain the entire system. As designers and creatives we have the opportunity to discover how to meet human needs in ways that contribute back to the planet.”

Publications: Leyla’s Writing

Website 1) Unschool
Website 2) Coproject
Website 3) Leyla Acaroglu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeylaAcaroglu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leylaacaroglu/
Facebook (Personal Profile): Leyla Acaroglu
Facebook (Organization Page): https://www.facebook.com/unschools
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leylaacaroglu/

Video 1) TED Talk
Video 2) A Brain Spa in Portugal for Creative Optimists