Dublin is to battle it out against Beijing, Capetown and Bilbao to have the honour of being World Design Capital 2014. The city’s bid will involve the four local authorities working together and the Irish Government will support them in their efforts.
Dublin has submitted its bid to become World Design Capital 2014. The prestigious designation is awarded by ICSID (International Council for the Society of Industrial Designers) biannually to cities that use design as a tool for social, cultural, economic and environmental progress.
The Dublin bid showcases Irish designers at home and abroad; working across established design disciplines such as product, fashion, architecture and graphic design, to animation, film, gaming and interaction design.
Successful World Design Capital designation for Dublin could provide a legacy of significant job opportunities as the design sector is growing rapidly.
Cities who have hosted WDC are Turin in 2008 and Seoul in 2010. Turin received more visitors in 2008 than when it hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics.
‘Pivot Dublin – Turn Design Inside Out’
The bid, ‘Pivot Dublin – Turn Design Inside Out’ is supported by the Irish Government as an opportunity to retrieve Ireland’s international reputation and to engage with and embed the idea of good design with Dublin and Ireland to benefit everyone socially, culturally and economically.
We will learn next month if Dublin has been shortlisted from the 55 cities worldwide who are competing for the ICSID designation for 2014.
ICSID representatives will visit the shortlisted cities during the summer and the winning city announcement will be made in autumn.
“The World Design Capital designation is prestigious and brings economic and reputational benefits to the winning city,” says Ali Grehan, Dublin City Architect and co-ordinator of the bid.
“Cities that value and apply design in the way they think, plan and act are more humane, attractive and competitive cities and the strength of Dublin’s bid ‘Pivot Dublin – Turning Design Inside Out’ is its diversity and its compelling story about our design capacity.”
The ‘Pivot Dublin’ strategy is being developed under four themes – ‘Connecting Cities’; ‘Making Cities Flow’; ‘Making Cities Lighter’ and ‘Making Cities Smile’. Seed projects are being proposed under each theme.
“’Pivot Dublin’ is a platform on which we can connect challenges to solutions and creativity to innovation through our impressive design resources,” says Grehan.
