DESIRE - Designing the Irresistible Circular Society is an international European research project involving the Department of Design as part of the New European Bauhaus initiative, launched by the European Union to spread the culture of the European Green Deal among citizens.

DESIRE takes up the global challenge and proposes a transformation that does not encourage the crossing of planetary boundaries. With the perspective of breaking traditional approaches, patterns, actions and mindsets, it proposes designing inclusive housing by optimising the use of material flows and rebalancing land use to accommodate resource production and biodiversity.

This coordinated and support action supports the “100 climate-neutral and smart cities” mission, proposing an approach to design that is attentive to circularity principles and open to artists, creatives, makers and other organizations. Starting from architecture, design and art, DESIRE will create an open learning environment, defined by principles, methods and guidelines that support the design of an irresistible circular society.

DESIRE is one of the six “demonstrator” projects of the New European Bauhaus initiative and will be tested in 8 urban spaces and neighbourhoods in 6 different European countries: Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia and the Netherlands.
DESIRE will work in and with these contexts, focusing on three challenges: creating of forms of inclusive housing; the “symbiotic relationship” typical of urban landscapes and the related optimization of the use of material flows; “reconciling cities with nature” for designing liveable habitats and functional ecosystems from a multispecies perspective by rebalancing land use to accommodate the generation of resources and biodiversity.