Valencia has been shortlisted as a finalist in its bid to be appointed World Design Capital 2022. The World Design Organization (WDO), based in Quebec (Canada), has announced that Valencia and Bengaluru (India) will be the finalists competing to be chosen as World Design Capital 2022. The jury has recognized the “mature status of Valencian design” in its decision.
“As shared in their respective bids, Bengaluru, once known as Bengaluru, is an emerging city that is driven by urgent needs to address a variety of local challenges through design, whilst Valencia is poised to demonstrate a rich and vibrant history of design effective initiatives”, has explained Luisa Bocchietto, WDO President and member of the WDC Selection Committee.
In July, the WDO, a non-governmental organisation that selects the World Design Capital every two years, will organise an official visit to Valencia to collect details on the city and on the project, which will be taken into account in the final assessment by the Selection Committee, whose decision on the winning city will be announced in October.
The signing ceremony will be held during the first third of 2020 and, from then on, the schedule will be planned. 2022 will be marked by the year-long programme of events established by the Associació Valencia Capital del Disseny, the association behind this bid.
Valencia’s bid, which is articulated around the slogan “The Mediterranean design of Valencia. Design for change, design for the senses”, appeals to a way of looking with geographical, but also aesthetic, ethical, philosophical and political implications. Click here to see the video of the candidacy.
The transversal programme of the Valencia World Design Capital bid includes a full schedule of events that will cover all the design disciplines, from industrial design to the design of spaces, through architecture and the design of services and interfaces. The aim is to coordinate the schedule with the cultural agenda of the city to fill it with design and to bring design as close as possible to the residents.
Thus, from January to December, every month will be defined by an overall topic based on four types of events: exhibitions, congresses, workshops and talks. The focus will be centred on contents such as design in the face of climate change, Mediterranean design, the commitment of design to gender equality, the history of design, discourse based on design, industrial development and design and nature, among others.
The cities chosen as World Design Capital in previous years are Turin (Italy) in 2008, Seoul (South Korea) in 2010, Helsinki (Finland) in 2012, Cape Town (South Africa) in 2014, Taipei (Taiwan) in 2016, Mexico City in 2018 and Lille (France) which is preparing its celebration for 2020.
The bid for capital status seeks to make design the main agent of urban innovation and to promote Valencian and Spanish design at an international level. This process, which is activated from the city of Valencia, aspires to incorporate the interests of the provinces of Alicante and Castellón, acting as a hub and catalyst for the Valencian region as a whole. Its ultimate objective is to implement design strategies in spheres such as politics, education, urban planning, communication, tourism, innovation, culture, business and ecology, and to do so together with companies, institutions and people throughout the Valencian Community and the rest of the country.
