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0 viewsCape Town has officially been named the World Design Capital (WDC) for 2014, beating off stiff competition from Bilbao, Spain and Dublin, Ireland. Judges from the International Council of Industrial Design (ICSID) believe the South African city is dedicated to using design for social, economic and cultural development – and positive change.
Receiving the prestigious title two years in advance will allow preparations for the year-long programme of WDC-themed events showcasing Cape Town’s creative sector on an international stage, to start immediately. 2014 also has historical significance in that it will mark 20 years since South Africa became a democracy in 1993.
The bid was headed by the Cape Town Partnership (CTP) who managed the World Design Capital Bid on behalf of the City of Cape Town, embracing the motto “Live Design. Transform Life”.
Andrew Boraine, CEO of CTP, believes the notion of the World Design Bid belongs to everyone in Cape Town. “Design at the edges can be much more exciting than design at the centre”, he says, because the WDC Bid is about mobilizing all citizens by providing the platform to design change. He expressed how important it was for the bid to focus on “design for people, not people for design”. In other words, to identify the means, look at the challenges, approach the communities and finally design the solutions.
Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, managing director of CTP, says the exposure of winning the bid will increase the number of visitors to the city, as it did with Helsinki, who won the bid in 2012. That is one of the main reasons CTP is partnering with Cape Town Tourism, namely to successfully market the city and handle visitor management.
“This project does not have a border called South Africa, but is an African project that has massive international appeal”, says Makalima-Ngewana, giving Cape Town access to a niche market it would not have without having won the bid.
The title is the city’s biggest achievement since South Africa hosted the Soccer World Cup last year. “The benefits for tourism are obvious”, says Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, “and Cape Town Tourism looks forward to using the title of World Design Capital to grow demand for Cape Town”.
In 1996, the census found 54% of South Africans living in cities. By 2030, it is estimated 70-75% will live in urban centres. Design will be crucial in sustaining this growth and making it economically practical. Architect and member of the bid committee, Mokena Makeka, believes that “no city can be serious about dealing with its design challenges without addressing the role of urban form and architecture.”
The Bid Book, which serves as the motivation behind Cape Town’s Bid for WDC is an inspiring portrait of the people, architecture, design and urban spaces of the City. One particularly innovative idea comes from a project called Urban Mosaic. They want to colour informal settlements by painting the houses. The beauty of this idea, lies not just in the aesthetic, but in the fire retardant properties of the paint, not the colour. According to InternAfrica, over the past decade fires in informal settlements around Cape Town resulted in 31 022 homes being destroyed, the deaths of 332 people, and the displacement of 121 432 people. The frequency of these fires can be attributed to many socio-economic issues but Urban Mosaic proposes a strategic method of decreasing this risk, where people have less than a minute before the fire kills them.
Makalima-Ngewana says a system will be set up for more creative ideas to be submitted before a final selection is shortlisted. So if you think your idea is a worthy contender, send it to //www.capetown2014.co.za/