Dezeen promotion: designers can engage with social and political problems that are sometimes too big for governments to tackle, says Richard van der Laken, founder of annual social design conference What Design Can Do (+ interview). More
Brexit crisis: uncertainty following the Brexit vote could prove "almost terminal" for small architecture design firms in the UK, according to a consultant who advises creative businesses. More
Mexico's luxury resort boom is leading to a surge in demand for locally sourced products, according to Mexican design brand Luteca. More
Robots could soon be infiltrating urban sewage systems to identify potential outbreaks of disease before they happen, according to architect and MIT professor Carlo Ratti (+ interview). More
Designers and brands need to wean themselves off the plastic "drug", according to Parley for the Oceans founder Cyrill Gutsch, who is releasing his organisation's shoes made from recycled ocean plastic with Adidas today (+ interview). More
Milan 2016: Indra Nooyi, CEO of giant food-and-drink conglomerate PepsiCo, established an in-house design team three years ago after noticing the brand's products looked the same as everyone else's. At an event in Milan last month she explained the impact it has had – and why she personally attended the design fair (+ transcript). More
Interview: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reopens this month with a Snøhetta-designed extension to its original Mario Botta building. In this interview, Snøhetta partner Craig Dykers explains how he tried not to step on the toes of Botta's Postmodern structure. More
Technologies like driverless cars and smart heating systems could end up making cities dysfunctional according to Maarten Hajer, chief curator of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2016 (+ interview). More
Milan 2016: furniture brands are slow to embrace technology and could go out of business as a result, according to American architect and designer Greg Lynn (+ interview). More
Zaha Hadid 1950-2016: Zaha Hadid was "part of a mini-rebellion" as a student at London's Architectural Association, setting the tone for the career that followed, says Nicholas Boyarsky, son of former AA director Alvin Boyarsky. In this exclusive interview, he shares some of the drawings from his father's collection, and remembers growing up under Hadid's influence. More
Zaha Hadid 1950-2016: in an exclusive interview, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas tells Dezeen about his longstanding friendship with Zaha Hadid and hits out at the West's architecture press for acting as a self-appointed Amnesty International towards her projects in Eastern countries (+ transcript). More
American consumers who learned about design through Ikea are starting to appreciate other brands and are "very ready and ripe" for online retailers like Ahalife, according to Shauna Mei, founder of the e-commerce site that has just hired former Net-A-Porter director Christopher Colfer to drive the brand's global expansion (+ exclusive interview). More
The main character in High Rise, a new movie based on JG Ballard's dystopian novel, is a residential tower that "doesn't care about the people inside it" and is designed by an arrogant architect. Director Ben Wheatley spoke exclusively to Dezeen about the film and why it "isn't a takedown of the architects of the 50s and 60s" (+ interview). More
One of the world's most influential hoteliers and developers, Ian Schrager redefined nightclubs, invented the boutique hotel and is now rethinking luxury apartments. Dezeen spoke to Schrager about his collaborations with architects and designers including Arata Isozaki, Philippe Starck and Herzog & de Meuron (+ interview + slideshow). More
The Google-inspired fad for slides and ping-pong tables has had a damaging impact on the workplace, according to office design expert Jeremy Myerson. More
Interview: designers are increasingly making films instead of products to get their ideas across, according to Studio Swine, which has won multiple awards for its movies (+ movies). More
Self-tightening laces and zippers powered by tiny motors could help athletes avoid injury and make life easier for people with disabilities, according to Nike designer Tinker Hatfield. More
Haworth white papers: work is changing and workers are changing – so workplace design needs to change too to keep up. To kick off a series of articles in collaboration with Haworth, the office furniture giant's research head Michael O'Neill explains what the company is doing to help clients provide the ideal office (+ interview). More
Architects and planners should study refugee camps like the Jungle in France, according to architecture undergraduate Sophie Flinder, who has completed a dissertation on the way the camp has become a fully functioning town with its own culture (+ transcript). More
Interview: how did a tiny "slow lifestyle" magazine from Portland become one of the most influential forces in design? Dezeen's Dan Howarth spoke to Kinfolk co-founder Nathan Williams to find out. More