With more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas, design has become an increasingly fundamental tool to make cities more competitive, attractive, liveable and efficient.
The World Design Capital designation is a city promotion project that celebrates the accomplishments of cities that have used design as a tool to reinvent themselves and improve social, cultural and economic life.
Cape Town is the first city in Africa to be shortlisted as the World Design Capital. The prestigious title is awarded biennially to cities that are dedicated to using design for social, cultural and economic development. With predecessors such as Helsinki, Finland (2012), proving that design can in fact transform lives, Cape Town’s status as a top three contender shifts the city onto a new world platform and into a new era.
This is pivotal for Cape Town’s reputation as a destination that has adopted design for transformation and social cohesion. There is a strong connection between good design and a city’s economic growth, development and social inclusion program. Well-designed cities are best placed to address issues of competitiveness, climate change, growth, social cohesion and mobility.
Design as a principle for changing lives began with the end of apartheid and, increasingly, has become a guiding philosophy in the repositioning of Cape Town as a sustainable city.
“Winning the World Design Capital 2014 title will be an even bigger opportunity than hosting the World Cup because we will have a whole year in the global spotlight. Now we need the support and enthusiasm of Capetonians, South Africans and Africans to take us through to the title” said MD of the Cape Town Partnership, Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana. From a team of 56 hopefuls, Cape Town stands alongside just two other world cities, Dublin and Bilbao, in the race to earn the World Design Capital title, which will be announced in October 2011.
Watch this space. Download a support botton on www.capetown2014.co.za Root for the team. And tell your friends!