Prateek Shankar is a strategic designer, researcher, writer, and educator, based in Berlin, and working at the intersection of systems transformation, governance innovation, and socio-ecological transition. His practice engages institutional redesign, civic capacity-building, and language as critical infrastructure shaping our collective futures.
He is currently a Strategic Designer at Dark Matter Labs, a mission-driven non-profit working to create institutions, instruments and infrastructures for a more equitable, caring and sustainable future. His work addresses interconnected and cascading crises (such as climate breakdown, infrastructure fragility, democratic erosion), exploring how governance systems can evolve toward anticipatory, regenerative, and civic-scale resilience. A core strand of his practice involves sense-making, consolidating, and communicating complex systems of knowledge and coordinated action. He also serves as Working Group Lead for Ethics and Regulation at COST-DESIGNAE, a EU-funded biodesign research network spanning 21 countries, Incubation Facilitator for Unearthadox's Sparks of Regeneration program, and is a founding member of the Planetary Civics Inquiry.
Trained in architecture, graphic design, and cultural studies, Prateek’s research spans environmental humanities, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, postcolonial studies, and critical theory. He has lectured at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and RMIT University, and previously served as Strategic Design Fellow at the RISD Center for Complexity, and Young India Fellow at Ashoka University. He holds a master’s in cultural studies and critical theory from RISD and a bachelor’s in architecture and building sciences from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi.
Current and recent collaborators include: Berggruen Institute, Politics for Tomorrow, 10x100, RISD Center for Complexity, Interspecies Internet, Open Lunar Foundation, Embassy of the North Sea, CIVIC SQUARE, UNCDF, Gates Foundation, Smart City Madinah, Aga Khan Foundation, Ashoka University, and Civilization Research Institute, among others.
Resume available on request. Direct all inquiries to prateek@darkmatterlabs.org.
📌Berlin, Germany
He is currently a Strategic Designer at Dark Matter Labs, a mission-driven non-profit working to create institutions, instruments and infrastructures for a more equitable, caring and sustainable future. His work addresses interconnected and cascading crises (such as climate breakdown, infrastructure fragility, democratic erosion), exploring how governance systems can evolve toward anticipatory, regenerative, and civic-scale resilience. A core strand of his practice involves sense-making, consolidating, and communicating complex systems of knowledge and coordinated action. He also serves as Working Group Lead for Ethics and Regulation at COST-DESIGNAE, a EU-funded biodesign research network spanning 21 countries, Incubation Facilitator for Unearthadox's Sparks of Regeneration program, and is a founding member of the Planetary Civics Inquiry.
Trained in architecture, graphic design, and cultural studies, Prateek’s research spans environmental humanities, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, postcolonial studies, and critical theory. He has lectured at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and RMIT University, and previously served as Strategic Design Fellow at the RISD Center for Complexity, and Young India Fellow at Ashoka University. He holds a master’s in cultural studies and critical theory from RISD and a bachelor’s in architecture and building sciences from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi.
Current and recent collaborators include: Berggruen Institute, Politics for Tomorrow, 10x100, RISD Center for Complexity, Interspecies Internet, Open Lunar Foundation, Embassy of the North Sea, CIVIC SQUARE, UNCDF, Gates Foundation, Smart City Madinah, Aga Khan Foundation, Ashoka University, and Civilization Research Institute, among others.
Resume available on request. Direct all inquiries to prateek@darkmatterlabs.org.
📌Berlin, Germany