A backpack radio station designed to warn remote communities of impending natural disasters and a bio-degradeable tower that harvests water from air are among the projects shortlisted in What Design Can Do's Climate Action Challenge. More
What Design Can Do has teamed up with Autodesk Foundation and IKEA Foundation to launch the Climate Action Challenge, a competition inviting designers to come up with proposals responding to climate change. More
Dezeen promotion: architects, designers and environmental experts will propose answers to the issue of climate change at the annual What Design Can Do conference in Amsterdam this month. More
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is working with MIT's D-Lab to develop design strategies that enable refugees to solve their own problems rather than relying on solutions provided by aid agencies (+ interview). More
Proposals for a travelling kitchen and a website that enables refugees to sell their own photographs are included in the five winning projects of the first What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge. More
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
Dezeen promotion: this year's What Design Can Do conference will focus on European identity and how the continent can learn from new initiatives emerging in Africa (+ slideshow). More
Dezeen promotion: annual conference What Design Can Do is launching its first talks programme about the relationship between design and music (+ slideshow). More
Dezeen promotion: 25 designs that offer a range of solutions for improving the lives of refugees living in urban environments have been shortlisted for the first What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge (+ slideshow). More
Competition: Dezeen has teamed up with What Design Can Do to offer readers the chance to win one of three tickets to its annual conference on the social impact of design, held in Amsterdam (+ slideshow). More
Dezeen promotion: more than 600 entries have been submitted by designers, architects and students for a competition aiming to discover projects that can improve the lives of refugees around the world. More
Opinion: designers can't save the world, but even the smallest intervention could help improve the conditions faced by the unprecedented number of refugees flooding Europe, says Richard van der Laken. More
Opinion: initiatives like What Design Can Do's Refugee Challenge encourage designers to believe that they can solve international problems that go far beyond their reach, says Ruben Pater. More
Dutch organisation What Design Can Do has launched an international competition to help find solutions for refugees facing a wide variety of challenges. More
Advances in genetic technology mean that creating synthetic animals has become just another branch of industrial design, according to Daisy Ginsberg. More
Architects and urban designers are finally responding to the threat of rising sea levels by welcoming water into cities, says urbanism expert Tracy Metz. More
Dezeen promotion: international design conference What Design Can Do is launching its first ever event in São Paulo from 7 to 8 December 2015, with a series of talks based on issues facing urban environments. More
Dezeen promotion: What Design Can Do, a conference that aims to promote the role of design as a tool for social change, is launching its first event in São Paulo with a nature-themed series of talks. More
Opinion: designers have a responsibility to help with the growing refugee crisis in Europe and beyond, says Richard van der Laken, founder of What Design Can Do. More
Dezeen promotion: Dezeen has teamed up with the annual What Design Can Do conference to give readers a 15 per cent discount on tickets for this year's event in Amsterdam. More