taipei named world design capital 2016

taipei named world design capital 2016

at the international council of societies of industrial design‘s (ICSID) 28th general assembly in montreal, canada, taipei was named the world design capital 2016. it is the fifth city to receive the accolade following: torino (2008), seoul (2010), hlesinki (2012) and cape town (2014).

in just 50 years, the taiwanese capital has re-energized its urban landscape to include a transit system, specialized medical care and a bustling cultural infrastructure. running under the theme of ‘adaptive city – design in motion’, taipei will demonstrate to the rest of the world, why cities must be able to adapt to meet citizen’s demands. throughout its history, taipei has been in a constant state of change, attributed to its success as the political, economic, cultural and technological center of taiwan.

the merits of taipei were examined by a selection committee including: professor soon-in lee, ICSID president; patricia de lille, executive mayor of the city of cape town; ayse birsel, co-founder and creative director, birsel + seck; dr. beatriz garcia, head of research in cultural policy & impact, institute of cultural capital and senior research fellow in sociology, university of liverpool; and jens martin skibsted, creative director and founder, KiBiSi/skibsted ideation.

the ICSID plans on working closely with the implementation organization in taipei over the course of the next two years to help bring their proposed programme to fruition. ‘taipei is a city driven by design,’ state ICSID president, professor soon-in lee. ‘in what was a very provocative bid book, we learnt of taipei’s plan to focus its programme on issues of sustainability and responsibility of preserving the environment of future generations. the balance between innovation and a respect for nature is what will allow taipei to be recognized a true design leader through its designation as world design capital.’

‘our next step will be to fulfil the vision of the WDC and taipei’s programme will act as a catalyst for our existing industrial ecology, leading to the creation of more investment opportunities and job openings,’ concluded deputy mayor chen. ‘this in turn will allow us to develop more human resources and establish more market opportunities for our design industry.’