URGE Collective

URGE joins the World Design Organization | Updates from founders Sophie Thomas, Michael Pawlyn, and Alexie Sommer | The next generation of sustainable designers at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair this week.

Online passes are still available. Catch URGE’s highlights on reimagining economies, cities and ecosystems. Plus: get your set of Design Declares Climate Action Cards, launched at the Congress.

URGE’s Sophie Thomas invites you to take part in a pioneering year-long pilot programme developed with CIWM, Design Council and WRAP – offering behind-the-scenes access to waste facilities, expert-led workshops, and practical tools for a truly circular economy.

With highlights from bike tours to bench displays, hands-on workshops and the D! Climate Action Cards - LDF 2025 offers creativity, collaboration, and climate action.

Across the two days at the Barbican, URGE co-founders Alexie Sommer, Michael Pawlyn and Sophie Thomas will join an inspiring line-up of speakers. Here’s how you can join them.

The International Court of Justice has delivered its opinion that climate inaction can breach international law. But the most inspiring part? It all began with 27 law students from the Pacific Islands.

Interior Design MA students from the RCA bring radical spatial experiments to The Gallery, and 125 objects explore humanity’s relationship with water at the Wellcome Collection.

Design Declares invites contributions to its Climate Action Cards for the World Design Congress 2025, plus selected New Designers talks and tours this week.

As the Design Council launches its Skills for Planet Blueprint — a first step toward up-skilling one million designers in green skills — now is the time for designers to embed the mission. By Alexie Sommer & Bengt Cousins-Jenvey.

A selection of events from the London Festival of Architecture, Scotland’s Architecture Fringe, London Design Biennale, London Climate Action Week and elsewhere.

Five thought-provoking ways to engage with the latest thinking on regenerative design. You just might have to adapt it to your discipline.

URGE member Paul Zhu shares his lessons from starting the gift card Ecoswap for ethical and sustainable brands.

If you want to think about the Circular Economy as more than just recycling, there are six events in May and June you need to know about.

Discover essential material selection resources for your future projects, including guides, databases, tools, examples, and more.

URGE goes behind the headlines to find out more about the challenges associated with green skills, impact measurement and carbon tunnel vision.

URGE member Bengt Cousins-Jenvey on the mindset of staying hopeful about the future while staying critical about making it a reality.

A week of events in London and in-person. Time to go offline and meet new collaborators.

If you need inspiration or investment to do something new in 2025, one of these free events could be for you.

Bengt Cousins-Jenvey takes over from Ella Doran as editor of the URGE newsletter. He revisits past editions and asks for feedback from readers.

URGE co-founder Alexie Sommer explores Alki's new state-of-the-art workshop in Northern Pays Basque, showcasing its fusion of high design, sustainability, and artisanal craftsmanship.

URGE co-founder Michael Pawlyn explores how shifting human worldviews can foster an epochal transformation to address planetary crises, advocating for systemic changes beyond conventional models.

URGE co-founder Sophie Thomas reflects on her chapter in the book MATERIALS: An Environmental Primer (published by RIBA), exploring the urgent need for material innovation and circular design.

URGE co-founder Federico Gaggio investigates the field, considering how media contribute to the crises we face, and what a healthy Media Ecology may look like.