Jonathan Smales

Catch Jonathan Smales on Do Radio: Making Stuff up with Jon Kaye and Alan Wick 15th - 21st June 2026.

Jonathan Smales has spent more than 30 years asking one deceptively simple question: how should we live?

How should we create places that make life better, fairer, greener, more connected and more human?

He is the Founder and CEO of Human Nature, the company behind The Phoenix in Lewes: an ambitious attempt to build one of the most remarkable sustainable neighbourhoods in the UK. A place designed not around cars, concrete and short-term profit, but around people, nature, community, affordability, shared resources, local energy, beautiful public space and a different idea of what progress might look like.

Jonathan’s work goes back to his time as Managing Director of Greenpeace UK, where he helped create what is widely described as London’s first green commercial building, transforming an old animal testing laboratory in Islington into Greenpeace’s headquarters.

Show Notes:

What makes Jonathan interesting is not simply that he wants to build a sustainable village. Lots of people talk about that. It is that he is trying to do it for real, in public, with all the planning battles, financial constraints, community tensions and practical compromises that come with turning an idea into bricks, timber, streets, gardens and homes.

This is a conversation about building. But really, it is a conversation about hope. About whether we can still imagine a better future, and whether we have the courage to start making it visible.