Design Fuel is a CannonDesign podcast amplifying the role design plays in shaping a more equitable, healthy and beautiful world.
Hosted by David Polzin, Executive Director of Design at CannonDesign, and rooted in the firm’s Living-Centered Design ethos, each episode embarks on thought-provoking conversations on the ideas and forces driving innovation in the built environment and beyond.
Whether you're a designer looking for fresh inspiration or just curious about the creative process behind the environments we inhabit, this podcast delivers the fuel to keep your creativity in motion.
Host David Polzin connects with Moody Nolan CEO Jonathan Moody in the latest episode of Design Fuel.
The conversations navigates important topics around investing in underserved communities, the impact of legacy and continuity in community development and why Jonathan advocates for solutions that are diverse by design.
3 Jun 2026
David Grandy: Strategy + Systems
Host David Polzin connects with healthcare strategist and innovator David Grandy to explore the ideas and actions it would take to dramatically transform healthcare across society.
The conversation explores the role design plays in system-wide transformation, scaling value-based care, the tension between patient and workforce needs, and why looking beyond healthcare is key to understanding where it goes from here.
14 Apr 2026
Duke Reiter: Issues + Place
Design Fuel is back and Season 2 opens with a conversation as expansive as the landscape it examines. Host David Polzin sits down with Duke Reiter, architect, urban planner and founder of Ten Across.
Ten Across (https://10across.org/) is an organization that frames the U.S. Interstate 10 corridor — stretching 2,460 miles from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida — as the country's most revealing observatory for understanding the challenges and opportunities of our time. From climate resilience and extreme heat to affordable housing, water, energy and immigration, the I-10 corridor puts the defining pressures of the 21st century into stark focus.
In this episode, David and Duke explore how Ten Across is building a network of mayors, planners, community organizations, business leaders and resilience officers to move from awareness to collective action, and what it means to think at a truly regional scale. They dig into why data and lived experience must work in tandem to tell an honest story about place, and how those who shape the built environment have a unique responsibility to lead proactive responses to an uncertain future.
16 Jul 2025
Jared Della Valle: Risk + Responsibility
In this installment of Design Fuel, David speaks candidly with Jared Della Valle, the CEO and Founder of Alloy Development.
The conversation focuses on how Jared and his team have carved a unique niche in the architecture profession, where they own, design and develop their projects. The conversation also reaches into community impact, sustainability and the design ethos of Brooklyn.
7 May 2025
Erin Williams: Brand + Experience
On this episode of Design Fuel, David welcomes Erin Williams (https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinsian/), the senior director of global experience design for McDonalds.
This exciting conversation focuses on Erin's significant role at one of the largest brands in the world, how McDonalds (www.McDonalds.com) approaches customer experience, and the unique middle ground between digital and physical design solutions.
12 Feb 2025
Paola Aguirre Serrano: Borders + Equity
On this episode of Design Fuel, David welcomes Paola Aguirre Serrano, a proud native of the Mexico-U.S. region, urban designer and partner at Borderless Studio.
This far-reaching conversation traverses the principles of spatial and equitable design, modern urban challenges, the power of design to bring hope in the most unique urban places, and how design can better nourish our cities moving forward.
11 Feb 2025
Welcome to Design Fuel
This is the trailer for Design Fuel, a CannonDesign podcast that amplifies the role design can play in shaping a more equitable, healthy, sustainable and beautiful world.
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