Designing an Irresistible Circular Society (DESIRE) aims to create an alternative way forward for the built environment supporting the EU mission of ‘100 climate-neutral and smart cities’. Against seemingly insurmountable challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion we need to rethink our approach to finding solutions. Departing from architecture, design and art we will create an open learning environment with principles, methods and guidelines to support us in designing an irresistible circular society. We will present a DESIRE lighthouse demonstrator, built on insights and learnings from on-site demonstration activities taking place on sites in Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, and The Netherlands, encompassing various themes and scales. By this, we will set the foundation for a school of thought and practice, and establish a scaling framework for widespread learning across the EU utilizing digital infrastructure, stakeholder involvement and empowerment across a partner community of European cities, youth organisations, NGOs, academia etc. Our territorial sites form the core of DESIRE. Three themes have informed our choice of sites and partners. ‘Creating social and inclusive housing’ addresses the need for inclusive processes, ‘the power of we’, in circular transformation of social housing. ‘Reconciling cities with nature’ is about designing livable habitats and functional ecosystems from a multispecies perspective while rebalancing ‘land use’ to accommodate resource generation and biodiversity. ‘Transforming through symbiotic relationships’ focuses on how to optimize use of materials flow when rethinking urban landscapes in cities. In depts on-site demonstration activities will unfold in three Danish sites (an old asphalt factory in Herlev, a social housing neighbourhood in Taastrup, and an urban transformation project in Kalundborg) and contribute to similar demonstration activities in Amsterdam, Ljubljana, Milan, Riga and Turin.