This month sees major design festivals in Istanbul, Beijing and Belgium; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art examines faked photography before Photoshop; Frieze Art Fair comes to Regent's Park; the Vitra Design Museum opens a show on Pop Art Design and Toronto's Design Exchange surveys the vertical urban factory.

It has been a space for creativity and invention, a venue for secret war-time activities and a snub to the architectural establishment, but the enduring appeal of the shed lies in its simplicity.

A US economist thinks he has found a way to bring prosperity and opportunity to developing countries by creating entirely new autonomous cities, run by foreign governments and based around a charter of “good rules”. The president of Honduras wants to make the idea a reality. But could they ever be good places to live?

This month Studio Gang unveils a major exhibition in Chicago, Vienna's MAK looks at the design of everyday items, the Metropolitan Museum in New York celebrates the influence of Andy Warhol, Detroit hosts a 48-hour screening that examines the city's image and London Design Festival kicks off in the capital.

The dystopian landscape imagined and drawn by the Norwegian artist Hariton Pushwagner in 1969 still resonates today, says Isabel Stevens – especially in Milton Keynes

This month the Columbia Museum of Art brings together 44 chairs from 200 years of American history, there's an original Futuro House on show in Finland, the designers selected for Jerwood Makers Open show off their talent and a group of sci-fi authors, scientists and urbanists make a fantastical model metropolis in Eindhoven.

100% Design will be hosting a lively seminar programme, which will feature international designers and industry leaders including Yvés Behar, Stephen Haggerty (of Hunt Haggarty), Vicky Richardson (British Council), Michael Young, Mat Hunter (Design Council), Chris Sanderson (LS: Global), Dan Hopwood (BIID), Christine Murray (Architects Journal), Simon Woodroffe (Yo! Home), Marcus Fairs (Dezeen) and many more. 

The Global Design Forum is a new one-day event staged by the London Design festival and intends to inspire new directions for the industry. Book now to secure your place and join the debate.

Icon 110 is all about Boats. Our cover features Ole Scheeren’s floating cinema in Thailand and we profile the architect – best known for his work on Beijing’s CCTV building – and ask him about life after leaving OMA. British architect David Kohn has beached a boat on top of London’s Southbank Centre, and we also wonder what the new Cutty Sark and Titanic Belfast museums say about modern visitor attractions.

This month, London prepares for the Olympics with themed exhibitions at RIBA, the opening of new gallery spaces at the Tate, and a show celebrating the best of Britain’s young designers. For those abroad, check out MoMA’s survey of design for children, Istanbul Modern’s exhibition on Urban Walls, and Design Parade 7 hosted by Villa Noailles in the south of France. 

The Musée du Quai Branly has cast contemporary artists as modern-day shamans working with the forces of disorder. But by displaying artworks next to artefacts from every continent and period of history, the show raises complicated questions about art and ethnography.

UK-based entrepreneur Doug Richard has launched School for Creative Startups, a programme that gives talented creatives the skills to turn their ideas into a real business.

London-based creative agency Rosie Lee has employed straightforward design principles that websites use every day to relieve what is arguably the greatest British headache – travelling by train.

Register now to apply to be listed in the Icon Design Trail 2012, the essential visitors' guide to the London Design Festival

Ab Rogers, new Head of Interior Design at the RCA, has pioneered a new two-year MA course that will encourage graduates to extend their thinking on "altering architecture" and take a multi-disciplinary approach to purpose-filled interiors (the deadline for applications is September). Rogers shared 5 of his favourite things with Icon in our June issue.

This month's dates for the diary include: Design Miami/Basel, Gordon Matta-Clark's photographs on show in Barcelona, DMY Berlin in its 10th year, a show of art inspired by the skyscraper at Chicago's MCA and the London Festival of Architecture.

The digital edition of Icon is now here. It's easy to access and intuitive to use. Sign up today for our free preview App.

The theme of our July issue is ‘Maps’. Our cover features one of Stamen's Watercolor Maps, a beautiful, digital rendering that looks handmade; while the Center for Land Use Interpretation is creating a database of alternative American landmarks, from ghost towns to missile bases. Our Icon of the Month is the Global Positioning System (GPS), and we also look at the architecture of war rooms, in both fiction and fact, from Dr Strangelove to the present-day White House.

Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary at the V&A opens today, confirming the notion that Thomas Heatherwick is currently everywhere. He also features on the cover of our June issue photographed by David Bailey. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of two strong personalities and a stuffed turkey vulture.

Icon 108 is devoted to Sacred Spaces. The designer Thomas Heatherwick is building an aviary on top of the “Towers of Silence” in Mumbai, where the city’s Zoroastrian community practises its ancient custom of “sky burial”, which involves vultures and other birds of prey stripping cadavers to the bone in as little as three days.