The “Designing for Sustainability Now” panel discussion features architect and urban planner Esther Charlesworth, graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davis and Denis Blackburne, chief financial officer of Savannah-based Melaver Inc.

This international panel will explore the notion of sustainability as an environmental, economic, social and cultural necessity rather than as an optional luxury of the wealthy. As the debate regarding globalization intensifies, designers of products, messages, services, and built environments are playing a larger role in the shaping of the global landscape. Such actions require an ethical foundation, and a diligent mindfulness regarding potential repercussions on the human condition and the natural world. The founder and Managing Director of Architects Without Frontiers, Esther Charlesworth, joins the Zimbabwean graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies and Denis Blackburn, CFO of Savannah-based sustainable development firm Melaver, Inc., in discussing how individuals who possess the ability to imagine and execute socially just ideas can work across disciplines to initiate positive change.