“We are all beginning to feel a bit cross, a bit confounded by a world where there is no more limitless consumption," said our July speaker Jonathon Porritt, the Founder Director of Forum for the Future (the UK's leading sustainable development charity). "A huge increase in the cost of living is the most important driver. The most influential process is coping with the incredibly sharp increase in energy and commodity costs."

Porritt argued that we were witnessing a structural, and profound, change in the way the economy works, the end of one paradigm of economic progress and the beginning of another. Or to put it another way, "a troubled world in transition". And he posed the question - what is the role of the design profession in this shift? At the very least, he argued, there is going to be opportunity in this change.

“At the moment we sell ourselves to the highest bidder and do whatever they ask us to do – which is usually about selling more stuff," he told the breakfasters. "CDS is client dependency syndrome. This is something architects, planners, designers, accountants and designers all suffer from. The value creating sectors of the economy all have chronic client dependency syndrome.

“The downturn in the economy is actually a brilliant opportunity, it’s the end of excess and profligacy. Downturns are good because they make people think about doing better with less and they open up to new opportunities. Under these conditions, designers can help clients manage their reputations."

According to Porritt, progress has been measured in our ability to consume more. But he was interested in a rather different concept. “I’m interested in ‘elegant frugality’," he said. "It’s a phrase I am playing a lot with recently. It’s about modesty in consumption, but it’s still aspirational. It’s about people feeling that their own aspirations are being met."

His conclusion? "You have to be confident you can still deliver the same value in a sustainable way."