Two recent disaster documentaries highlight the need for designers and architects to open the door to pessimism, writes emergency planner Lucy Easthope. More about "Pessimism plays a crucial part in design"
Public toilets are vital infrastructure and architects and designers should do more to increase their prevalence in our cities, write Edit Collective. More about "As architects and designers, we don't talk about toilets enough"
Running clubs are a stimulating alternative to the staid networking drinks that dominate the design industry, writes Jo Barnard. More about "Design studios should start organising running clubs"
Talent is overrated in architecture and it means that other, more important qualities tend to be overlooked, writes Matthew Bovingdon-Downe. More about "Architects are obsessed with talent"
Creeping security infrastructure at Glastonbury takes the coercive tactics shaping Britain's streets to their next logical step, writes Phineas Harper. More about "Glastonbury is not an escape from the real world but a snapshot of what is to come"
Architects should get behind the campaign to support endangered birds by installing swift bricks in all new UK homes, writes Hannah Bourne-Taylor. More about "We're talking about a 50-million-year-old species on the brink that just needs a brick with a hole in it"
Designers and brands producing more ethical products are sometimes criticised for their high prices, but there's not much that can be done without systemic change, writes Smith Mordak. More about "Under capitalism, we cannot make ethical, sustainable products affordable"
Japan is having a moment. Michelle Ogundehin considers what the West can learn from the country's approach to design and culture. More about "Japan has perfected the art of questioning the norm"
Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 is full of untruths seeking to convince us that architects will solve more problems than they really can, writes Fabrizio Gallanti. More about "Fakery and deception is everywhere at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025"
We must simplify our understanding of regenerative design in order to start usefully applying the concept, writes Jo Barnard. More about "What on earth is regenerative design?"
Rather than focusing simply on how design can make spaces safer for women, architecture should turn the mirror on itself, writes Kate Fleming. More about "Violence against women and girls isn't just a design problem"
After disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires one of the best ways for architects to help is by designing prototypes, write Dana Cuff, Emmanuel Proussaloglou and Ryan Conroy. More about "In post-disaster cities like Los Angeles, we need new model homes and we need them now"
Selldorf Architects' renovation of the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing has eradicated most of the building's postmodern charm, writes Robert Bevan. More about "The fears raised by those original renderings have been fully realised"
An inability to imagine the world differently is preventing us from understanding what a terrible situation humanity is in, writes Rachel Donald. More about "We are collectively suffering through a crisis of imagination"
This year's Milan design week was a noisy assault on the mind that often felt light on substance and heavy on commercial opportunism, writes Max Fraser. More about "The days of dressing up superfluous stuff and placing it amid vapid installations surely need to stop"
Earth Day this year is focused on shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy but the concept of the energy transition is deeply flawed, writes Jean-Baptiste Fressoz. More about "There has never been a true 'transition' away from coal, oil – or even wood"
The term "art deco" is being applied too liberally to architecture built under colonialism, writes Edward Denison as part of our Art Deco Centenary series. More about "Art deco's success has unwittingly served to conceal the horrors of colonialism"
Osaka should reconsider its plan to dismantle all pavilions at the upcoming Expo 2025 given the enduring legacy of its first expo 55 years ago, writes Paul French. More about "Osaka should know better than to erase all evidence of Expo 2025"
Art deco has a history of being a glitzy distraction from effecting genuine change during moments of turmoil, writes Catherine Slessor as part of our Art Deco Centenary series. More about "It's no surprise to see art deco being avidly embraced by the likes of Elon Musk"
US president Donald Trump's move to promote classical architecture over modernism is aimed at suppressing optimism for the future, writes Steven Holl. More about "Stalin, Hitler and Trump all tried to block modernist architecture"