Cape Town has been named World Design Capital for the year 2014, ahead of fellow short-listed cities, Dublin and Bilbao. The sought-after accolade was awarded to the Mother City this morning at the International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in Taipei.
Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, accepted the award on behalf of Cape Town, South Africa and the African continent.
In her acceptance speech De Lille said: “It is an honour for me to be addressing you here today as mayor of the first African city to be named a World Design Capital. A city belongs to its people and it must be designed for – and with – them and their communities. For many years, people have been applying innovative solutions to our challenges. They have been using design to transform various aspects of life. But they have often been working without an overarching social goal in mind. Such is the nature of individual industry.’’
The Cape Town Partnership started the World Design Capital bidding process over a year ago, on behalf of the City of Cape Town, with the formation of a Bid Committee tasked with framing the theme of Cape Town’s bid and sourcing content and case studies for a compelling bid book. The theme was “Live Design. Transform Life”. It was a bid for the City, country and the continent.
Explaining the importance of the year 2014, De Lille said: “This is a significant moment for Cape Town, and our World Design Capital year comes at a historic time. 2014 will be the celebration of 20 years of democracy in our country, 20 years of freedom which we shall all celebrate.’
Cape Town’s bid has gained widespread public and private sector support and provides the opportunity and platform to embed design thinking into urban development planning for social and economic growth. The accolade will also enhance Cape Town’s reputation globally as being a place that is known for more than just its natural beauty.
Urban tourism is by far the biggest segment of the global tourism market, and previous World Design Capital title holders have seen increased visitor numbers as a result of the designation.
Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, Managing Director of the Cape Town Partnership and co-ordinator of the bid on behalf of the City, said: “It has been a long and rewarding journey to get to this point. The real key to our success has been the partnerships that have been forged during the bid process, and the unwavering support of the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.’’
The World Design Capital 2014 title results in a year-long programme of design-focused events that will see creative communities across the globe turning to Cape Town for social, economic and cultural solutions. These connections are vital in the long-term links the city will secure with global role-players within creative industries.
Extracts from the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014 Bid Book can be found on www.capetown2014.co.za
View Cape Town’s winning video, premiered in Taipei at the IDA Congress and the video that helped Cape Town to clinch the World Design Capital 2014 title. Other platforms for support include a Facebook page: Cape Town for World Design Capital, a Twitter feed: CapeTown2014 and the Twitter hash tag: #WDC2014.
Click here to view a video of the celebration as Cape Town is announced World Design Capital 2014.
About the World Design Capital
The World Design Capital title is awarded bi-annually by the International Council for Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to give global prominence to cities that use design for their social, economic and cultural development.
Founded in 1957 and active in 50 countries, ICSID has awarded the World Design Capital designation three times – to Torino, Italy (2008); Seoul, South Korea (2010) and Helsinki, Finland (designated for 2012).
The World Design Capital title is awarded in advance, allowing winning cities sufficient time to plan, develop and promote a year-long programme of World Design Capital-themed events for their designated year.
The winning city is required to pay a licensing fee of 160 000 Euros to ICSID over two years for the use of the title, and this investment is then leveraged by the winning city to attract significant private sector funding for promotion of the title year.
