World Design Capital Cape Town 2014

7/28/2019 World Design Capital Cape Town 2014

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VISION

For Cape Town, design is the enablerthrough which we can reimagine ourcity, solve its problems and improvethe lives of its citizens.

World Design Capital Cape Town

2014 is an opportunity to understandhow integral design is in oureveryday lives. The focus will be onprojects that bridge historic divides,reconnect the city in structure and inspirit, rebuild social and economicinclusion, and reposition Cape Townfor a sustainable future.

We are building a dynamic year-longprogramme of projects, activitiesand events that will bring into thepublic eye the range of innovative andcreative services, processes, productsand objects, that have been developedthrough design to make all of ourlives better.

For us 2014 is just the beginning

of a better city by design.


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WORLD

DESIGN

CAPITAL

2014

World Design Capitalis about design in itsbroadest sense, and

about designing bettercities for people.

Cape Town was designated

World Design Capital 2014 at

the International Design Alliance

(IDA) Congress in October 2011 in

Taipei. This prestigious designation

is bestowed biennially by the

International Council of Societies of

Industrial Design (ICSID).

World Design Capitals recognise the

value of design thinking, and are

dedicated to using design as tool

for social, cultural and economic

development. Previous winners

have been Helsinki, Seoul and Turin,

and Cape Town won the 2014 bid

against fierce competition from rival

shortlisted cities, Bilbao and Dublin.

Cape Towns bid was not about the

city claiming that it is already an

established design capital, but

instead it was a bid to acknowledge

that we are using design thinking as

a tool for transformation.

The World Design Capital 2014

bid concept Live Design.

Transform Life focused strongly

on socially responsive design.

Our bid recognised and mobilised

Cape Towns considerable design

resources towards addressing the

legacies of our citys apartheid past

and was aimed specifically at dealing

with the vast imbalances that exist in

our society.

WHAT IS WORLD

DESIGN CAPITAL?


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CAPE TOWN

IN 2014

Cape Town will use WorldDesign Capital 2014 tohighlight the creativity

of its city, country andcontinent through ayear-long programme ofdesign-focussed events,exhibitions, projects andinitiatives.

While designers, innovators and producers will mostcertainly benefit from the exposure, Cape Town has a

bigger design message for the world. In Africa, where

basic survival challenges and societal problems are an

every-day reality, designs problem-solving capabilities

have the potential to improve life which is why Cape

Towns World Design Capital 2014 bid promise is Live

Design. Transform Life. Mobilising the design community

to this promise will have powerful results. For Cape Town,

2014 is just the beginning of a better city by design.


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World Design Capital 2014 will take

the citys design resources to a

broader public so that all its citizens

benefit from design-led thinking.

Cape Town is a key design centre

in both South Africa and the wider

African continent. Its not only home

to leading design practitioners but

its four universities, top international

convention centre, popular creative

events and technology start-up sector

also attract some of the worlds best

creative minds.

The University of Cape Town (UCT),

the Cape Peninsula University of

Technology (CPUT), the University of

the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellen-

bosch University all boast top design

departments. Award-winning architect

Jo Noero, who won Best Building of

the Year in the 2012 Icon Magazine

Awards, is a professor in the UCT

Architecture Department, while indus-

trial designer Mugendi K. MRithaa,

one of the worlds leading thinkers

in participatory design, is a profes-

sor at CPUT. UCT is also home to the

African Centre for Cities, directed by

top urban thinker Professor Edgar

Pieterse, which works to identify

systemic responses to unsustainable

urbanisation processes in Africa.

The Cape Town International Confer-

ence Centre (CTICC) is another major

intellectual draw card to the city.

It hosts the world-renowned Design

Indaba as well as numerous other

international events. One of the 2014

legacy projects will see the CTICC

double in capacity and link with the

Artscape Theatre Centre, also to

undergo a major revamp, to create a

Foreshore Precinct that will become a

hub for cultural and events activities.

Cutting-edge annual events also

attract both local and international

thinkers and audiences to the Mother

City. These include Design Indaba,

the International Jazz Festival, the

Infecting The City public arts festival,

the Out The Box Puppetry and Visual

Performance Festival, the Cape Town

Electronic Music Festival and Creative

Week Cape Town.

The city has a strong technology

start-up sector too and local

companies have been responsible

for innovations such as Thawte

internet security, the Mxit instant

messaging service and Jembi public

telephony. Official initiatives, such

as The Shuttleworth Foundation and

The Fringe Innovation District, seek

to attract and incubate more Cape

Town start-ups.

One of the primary goals of World

Design Capital Cape Town 2014 will

be to find ways to share Cape Towns

intellectual resources throughout

the city and upskill the broader

workforce with design-enabled

methodology.

Home to fouruniversities, manydesign schools, aleading convention

centre that hosts aninternational designevent, establishedcreative festivalsand an innovativestart-up sector,Cape Town is

already a recogniseddesign hub.

CAPE TOWN A CITY

OF DESIGN THINKERS

WORLD

DESIGN

CAPITAL

2014


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ONE OF THE PRIMARY

GOALS OF WORLD

DESIGN CAPITAL 2014

will be to find ways to shareCape Towns intellectual

resources throughout the

city and upskill the broader

workforce with design-

enabled methodology.


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Cape Town is the fourth city to be

recognised as World Design Capital,

but it is the first to appoint an

industrial designer to help inter-

nalise design thinking within its

administration taking the concept

of Live Design. Transform Life. way

beyond simply a year-long festival.

In 2014 South Africa celebrates 20

years of democracy but many of

the divisions of the apartheid era

are still evident within the Mother

City. The advantaged enjoy the citys

cosmopolitan sophistication; for the

disadvantaged, poverty and urban

degradation are an everyday reality.

Executive Mayor of Cape Town,

Alderman Patricia de Lille considers

design as a tool for transformation.

Design, she believes, enables us to

look at the citys problems through

a different lens, and fosters new,

innovative solutions.

As a result, the City of Cape Town

has appointed designer Richard

Perez to head up its World Design

Capital programme. A partner in the

internationally recognised industrial

design consultancy XYZ, Perez

is tasked not only with directing

Cape Towns World Design Capital

projects, but also with integrating

design-led thinking into the city

administrations modus operandi.

Perez leads a department of design-

trained project managers whose task

it is to work with other city depart-

ments to re-evaluate problems and

suggest design interventions that

can incrementally change results

over time.

So while World Design Capital

2014 will shine the spotlight on

Cape Towns creativity, it is only the

beginning of a long-term project that

will see design go beyond tangible

artefacts and become embedded in

the citys very systems and services.

From the layout of ratepayerss bills

and the call centres and databases

that support their accounts, to the

delivery of water and sanitation,

design will work to deliver a better

city to all Cape Towns citizens.

Its a mindset that goes beyond the

confines of just City Hall. Citizen-

driven design-thinking projects are

becoming more widespread, ranging

from workshops and hackathons to

incubators in which diverse groups

of designers, thinkers and

community members collaborate

to affect localised change to

specific situations.

World Design Capital

Cape Town 2014 is only

the beginning of a long-

term project that will see

design go beyond tangibleartefacts and become

embedded in the citys

very systems and services.

WORLD

DESIGN

CAPITAL

2014

CAPE TOWN A CITY

OF DESIGN THINKING


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The focus will be on projects that

bridge historic divides, reconnect the

city in structure and in spirit, rebuild

social and economic inclusion, and

reposition Cape Town for a sustain-

able future.

Mobilising the design community

and incentivising it to the big vision

of World Design Capital 2014 from

the bottom up will have powerful,

life-changing results. From fashion

and furniture through architecture

and technology to urban and envi-

ronmental planning, the city and its

citizens can design to improve life.

Meanwhile, from a top-down

perspective, the City of Cape Town

is embedding design thinking into

its very organisational structure as

it looks for planning solutions for a

future of radical urbanisation.

Beyond the programme of events

that the World Design Capital

celebrations comprise, there are a

number of legacy projects that will

continue beyond the year 2014.

WHAT WILL WORLD

DESIGN CAPITAL MEAN

FOR CAPE TOWN?

Cape Town will useWorld Design Capital

2014 to identify, nurtureand promote projectsthat offer tangibleevidence of how designcan improve lives.

WORLD

DESIGN

CAPITAL

2014


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THE 2014 PROGRAMME

World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 is

an opportunity to understand how integraldesign is in our everyday lives and how wecan use it as a tool to support the changeswe would like to see in our homes, schools,neighbourhoods, city and country.

We aim to build a dynamic

programme of projects, activities

and events that will bring into the

public eye the range of innovative

and creative services, processes,products and objects that have been

developed through design to make

all of our lives better.

A multi-disciplinary panel of 39 cura-

tors have been appointed to help

identify projects that offer tangible

evidence of how design can improve

lives, and they will play a significant

role in the selection and curator-

ship of public submissions and

proposals that will form part of the

programme.

The content of our

year-long programme

will be informed by: 6 Signature Events as per theHost City Agreement

The first and second call for public

submissions

A dynamic curation process

Value-adding efforts to existing

events, programmes and activities

Partner-developed programmes

The City of Cape Towns Ward Projects

Other significant initiatives/proposals

esign House

xhibition:

- ovem er

Convocation

Ceremony:

ovem er

esign Policy

Conference:

- ovem er

Design Week

Forum:

ovem er

Design Gala:

26 February 2014

Programme

Launch:

1 December 2013

20142013 2015


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Under the overarching theme

Live Design. Transform Life.,four themes have been createdto illustrate how local creativitycan transform the city, reconcileits communities and provide it

with a sustainable, productiveand vibrant future.

THEMES

WORLD

DESIGN

CAPITAL

2014


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04BEAUTIFUL SPACES.BEAUTIFUL THINGS

BRIDGING THE

DIVIDE

03

02

TODAY FOR

TOMORROW

01AFRICAN INNOVATION.GLOBAL COVERSATION


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AFRICAN INNOVATION.

GLOBAL COVERSATION

African ideas that speak

to the world01

Africa has typically lagged behind

the West in terms of innovation,

but now relevant ideas are creating

unique solutions to the continents

unique problems. Many of these

have global relevance and are

being exported beyond its borders.

One of the most prominent

examples is Mxit (www.mxit.com),

an instant messaging applicationfor any phone, and the largest

social network in Africa with almost

10 million active users, most of

them under 25. It allows Africas

youth to communicate with each

other at minimal cost, and gives

them free access to a vast range of

community and education services.

Equally outstanding is Design

Indaba (www.designindaba.com),

a multiplatform, multidisciplinary

project that celebrates andpromotes the creative industries.

Founded by Ravi Naidoo in 1995

as a conference to facilitate local

skills transfer, it now includes an

expo that markets the countrys

creative talent as well as film and

music festivals, training workshops

and publications. Some of its low-

cost housing and city improvement

projects are inspiring similar

initiatives around the world.

Another example is to be found

in Cape Towns eastern precinct.

Long on the neglected fringe of the

Central Business District, it has

been given a new lease on life as

The Fringe (www.thefringe.org.za),

an official Design and Innovation

District that aims to incubate and

support young creative businesses

and provide a laboratory in which

to test design solutions to urban

challenges.

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BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

Design that reconnects

our city and reconciles

our communities02

South Africas history is one

of division between town

and township, advantaged

and disadvantaged. But

creative projects are work-

ing to change that.

Infecting The City (www.

infectingthecity.com) is

committed to bringing art to

all with a free programme

of thought-provoking music,

dance and performance

presented in the streets

of central Cape Townevery March. Hosted by the

Africa Centre, the festival

creates a platform for

African voices, in Africa,

and explores contemporary

African artistic practice as a

catalyst for social change.

Through its mixture of new,

commissioned and invited

works, it challenges its

audiences to take a fresh

look at Cape Town and its

citizens, and to reconnect

through the use of the citys

public spaces. Launchedin May 2011, Cape Towns

MyCiti rapid bus system

(www.myciti.org.za) has

brought a radically different

form of public transport

to the Mother City. Buses

travel in dedicated lanes,

with closed stations and

prioritised signalling at

intersections. Theres

been a large uptake of its

convenient, safe service

and its leading the wayinternationally on universal

access. Its ultimate aim

is to provide a bus station

within 500 metres of most

Cape Town homes.

Built on the edge of an

informal settlement,

Inkwenkwezi Secondary

School (www.facebook.

com/inkwera) stands as a

beacon that highlights the

importance of education. Its

innovative design facilitatesteaching and learning and

has seen pass rates double.

It was designed by award-

winning architect Heinrich

Wolff, who believes archi-

tecture can be a catalyst for

social change.


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TODAY FOR TOMORROW

Sustainable solutions for

people and planet03

The challenge for

modern cities is how to

grow prosperity without

using up the planets

finite resources. And

thats where innovative

design is key.

The challenge for modern cities is

how to grow prosperity without using

up the planets finite resources, and

thats where innovative design is key.

In the new Green Point Urban Park,

springs on Table Mountain have

been rechannelled to feed irrigation

dams and generate electricity

creating a recreational facility thats

green in both senses of the word. An

interactive Biodiversity Show Garden

that demonstrates responsible

gardening practices adds to the

eco-credentials of this world-class

recreational facility.

Informal settlements of corrugated

iron shacks are a fact of life in

Cape Towns poorer areas. While

residents wait for government

houses, Stephen Lamb (www.

touchingtheearthlightly.com) has

developed the Green Shack, a

simple, low-tech design that provides

a safe, dignified home. Clever

innovations protect it from common

fire and flooding hazards and

provide gardens that allow

residents to grow their own food.

Cape Town-born social enterprise

Greenpop (www.greenpop.org) gets

communities, individuals and com-

panies involved in tree-planting and

eco-education projects. Through fun

initiatives, it not only addresses the

problem of deforestation, but also

works to uplift communities

and educate them on sound

environmental practices.


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BEAUTIFUL SPACES.

BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Inspiring architecture,

interiors, food, fashion,

jewellery, craft, art

and creativity

Beauty restores the soul and replenishes the

human spirit. And while Cape Towns natural beauty

attracts visitors from around the globe, the city also

provides inspiring and original architecture, interiors,

landscaping, food, furniture, fashion, jewellery, craft,

art, film, photography and publications.

An abundance of creative beauty is on show in

Woodstock, a suburb that has seen an organicinflux of designers in recent years. It was kickstarted

when an old biscuit factory was converted into

studios and shops, and began drawing crowds to

a weekly artisanal food market. Now a growing

number of work-cum-shop spaces have amassed

in an unofficial design district (www.woodstock-

designdistrict.co.za).

The Cape Craft and Design Institute has since 2001

become a go-to hotspot for the distinctive creative

wares that the city has come to be known for. Inde-

pendent artisans, crafters, makers and designers

all benefit from the marketing, business develop-ment, product development and international

awareness that the institute offers. The results are

beautiful, desirable craft objects that also create

jobs and build communities. Similarly, the Cape

Fashion Council provides these services to our

world-class fashion designers and manufacturers.

Cape Town is also home to internationally recog-

nised creatives including Cannes award-winning

filmmaker Oliver Hermanus, Rolex Protg artist

Nicholas Hlobo, Ordos 100 architect Mokena

Makeka, Youtube music sensations Die Antwoord,

legendary music producer Warrick Sony, the worldfamous Handspring Puppet Company, controver-

sial political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro),

underground graffiti heroine Faith47, infamous

animation group the Blackheart Gang, legendary

TV advert director Keith Rose, and genre redefining

choreographer and curator Jay Pather.


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2014 IS A

MILESTONE

YEAR FOR

SOUTH AFRICA

It marks two

decades ofdemocracy: 20

years since the

end of a social

engineering

system that

was designed to

divide; 20 yearsspent learning

to reconnect.

2014 will see Capetonians

and South Africans take stock

of the challenges and gains

of our transformation and

celebrate the achievements

of the past two decades, both

as a city and as a country.

WORLD

DESIGN

CAPITAL

2014


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PUBLISHED BY:

Cape Town Design NPC - Implementation Company of World Design Capital Cape Town 2014

[email protected] www.wdccapetown2014.com

Facebook.com/WDC2014 Twitter.com/WDC2014

Am I Collective

Guto Bussab, Muti

One Dog Chicken

Jonx Pillemar

Bruce Sutherland, City of Cape Town

Christo Maritz

Jana McMaster-Wepener

Dave Southwood

Laurie Wiid van Heerden, Wiid Design

Southern Guild

Ed Suter

Design Indaba

Astrid Cordier

Jan Ras

IDESO

Melissa Sherwin

Greenpop

IMAGES

COURTESY OF:

International Councilof Societies of Industrial Design

A Partner of the International

Design Alliance

World Design Capital Cape Town 2014

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