Design for Planet: Highlights from the World Design Congress 2025 at the Barbican

World Design Congress 2025

For the first time in over 50 years, the World Design Congress was held in London at the Barbican, an icon of Brutalist Architecture; the theme being “Design for Planet”. With the Barbican committing to being net zero in operation by 2027 and regularly showcasing artistic work in response to the climate crisis, it seemed a fitting venue. The event provided an opportunity to bring together people from diverse fields of design, including climate scientists, economists, and activists, resulting in two days of thought-provoking discussions.

This year, the lineup of keynote speakers was awe-inspiring. The day kicked off with Charlot Magayi, winner of the 2022 Earthshot prize and inventor of the Mukuru Stove, discussing accessible design and female-led, community powered innovation. Magayi was followed by Alexei Levence, of Desolenator, who demonstrated how regenerative business models can place impact before profit. This highlighted concerns with water scarcity, emphasising how design and innovation need to go beyond "business as usual."

Author

Catherine Sinclair

Next, Kate Raworth and Mariana Mazzucato participated in a panel discussion chaired by Danny Sriskandarajah, focused on "designing the economy that we need." Raworth discussed her economic model “Doughnut Economics,” first published in 2012, which provides a vision of how humanity can thrive in the 21st Century.

This vision consists of two rings: a social boundary to ensure that everyone has life’s essentials, and an ecological ceiling to ensure that humanity does not overshoot the planetary boundaries; beyond this lies environmental ruin and a potential tipping point in the Earth’s systems. Between the social boundary and ecological ceiling lies a space that is both socially just and ecologically safe. Mazzucato also highlighted the concept of “Mission Economy,” which encourages a radically different way of looking at the climate challenges that face us, restructuring capitalism to make it more inclusive, sustainable, and driven by innovation.

The second day started with a talk by Leyla Acaroglu, the founder of the UnSchool of Disruptive Design. She discussed how traditional thinking won’t change the world’s problems. Acaroglu emphasised the Rights of Nature laws, a legal framework that recognises how natural entities, such as rivers and ecosystems, have inherent rights to flourish and evolve, rather than be treated as human property or resources.

There are currently around 500 Rights of Nature laws worldwide. This approach is shifting away from an anthropocentric or human centric legal system to one that is nature centric, enabling enforceable protection of natural systems. Anthropocentrism is the perspective that humans are the most important entities, valuing nature only according to its usefulness to humans and their survival. Moving away from this kind of thinking will reduce the current ecological crisis, which is driving environmental destruction and species loss, calling for a more holistic and sustainable approach, while still valuing progress. Many companies are adopting this way of thinking, like Faith in Nature, the first company to give nature a seat on their board by rewriting their constitution, maintaining hope that more companies will follow suit.

Another speaker, Jan Boelen, discussed the concept of Bioregional Design. He stated: “Materials and resources are heavy and should stay local. People and ideas are light, so they should travel”. This is an interesting concept that should influence the way we think as Architects.

Following this, Ben Sheppard reviewed the progress against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, set in 2015, the goal for completion being 2030. According to the 2025 progress report released by the UN, only 35% of the Sustainable Development Goals are on track or making moderate progress, nearly 50% are moving too slowly, and 18% are in reverse- a worrying statistic that highlights the necessity for greater action.

Indy Johar, Architect and co-founder of Dark Matter Labs, said, “Don’t design in the illusion of the present, design for the future.”

This is something that we all need to take forward in the evolving environment and society. By the end of the two days, what stood out most wasn’t specifically one talk or discussion, but the strong sense of shared purpose. The World Design Congress showed that the global design community is ready to collaborate across disciplines and regions to put "Design for Planet" into action.