The Dutch Rathenau Instituut started in 1986 as a technology assessment center to advise Dutch Parliament. It has since developed into a broader think tank studying the organization and development of science systems, while regularly publishing and stimulating debate about the social impact of new technologies. Volume talks to the Institute’s Rinie van Est and Virgil Rerimassie to hear about the main trends in synthetic biology and related disciplines. They paint a picture of the world where biology and technology have converged, and where our fundamental way of working through scientific problems has shifted.

Crisis? What Crisis? This was the title of Volume #9, which came out in the summer of 2006 speculating on the decline of the suburbs and the need for a grand plan. Seven years and several crises later, today, you like many others might be facing your own personal financial crisis. But that shouldn’t stop you from feeding your intellectual hunger and searching for inspiration! To help out we’ve extended our 20% discount for students to one year after graduation and introduced a special introductory subscription price for first-time subscribers. Click here for the details.

The sixth edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam will open in the Kunsthal Rotterdam in May 2014. Dutch landscape architect Dirk Sijmons is the curator and the theme is Urban by Nature. The IABR organization has announced a Call for Projects, and invites architects, landscape architects, urban planners, cities, universities and organizations to submit best practices. The Call for Projects, the Application Form, and the Introduction to IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE– can be downloaded at iabr.nl.

Ja Natuurlijk (Yes Naturally) is a collaborative art manifestation that is taking place at GEM, Fotomuseum and Gemeentemuseum in The Hague until August 18, 2013. Yes Naturally embraces the increasingly ambiguous space between our ideas of nature and society. The exhibit teases at this contemporary ambiguity, linking the diversity of works on display to two essential questions: What is natural? And who or what decides?

For more than eight years artist Koert van Mensvoort has been working on a project to redefine our concept of nature. Through his platform Next Nature he has published books, held talks, ran workshops, maintained an active blog, and even developed a hoax, all in effort to communicate that there is no absolute nature, but that technology and nature are deeply intertwined; a biosynthetic nature so to speak. Can the development of a Gillette razor be considered in Darwinian terms of evolution? Is the fake nature of an indoor ski slope any less legitimate than the Alps? By fundamentally shifting the way we conceive nature, he believes we will be better able to cope with the oncoming climatic and environmental challenges ahead.

The Third Lisbon Architecture Triennale begins this September in the context of a crisis-filled and uncertain country. In response to this, a concurrent program of innovative small grants projects made a call for proposals last December. The aptly titled "Crisis Buster Grant" for architects has stimulated a wide variety of opportunities for civic engagement, unsolicited urban interventions, and bottom up solutions to crisis in the city of Lisbon.

On Thursday 21 March 2013, the teams that have worked under the wings of the Studio for Unsolicited Architecture, Design & E-Culture will present the results of their research at the Netherlands Architecture Institute. The Studio is an experimental project that explores ways in which designers can play a meaningful role in resolving urgent social and design challenges.

Ja Natuurlijk (Yes Naturally) is an international art manifestation that will take place at GEM, Fotomuseum and Gemeentemuseum in The Hague from March 15 till August 18, 2013. The central question that will be addressed is: What is natural? And who or what defines that, actually? Are we humans the only ones who decide this, or do plans, animals, bacteria, things and natural forces also ‘get a say’?

Filmmaker Kit Chung has created a series of fascinating and hypnotic GIFs that are intimate portraits of Beijing metro passengers.

Chinese artist Yang Yongliang recently released a new project that will be on view at Galerie Paris-Beijing from from March 14th to April 27th. The impressive collages aim to represent the potentially devastating effects of uncontrolled urbanization and industrialization.