Valencia officially announces its campaign for World Design Capital 2022
By Chuan Li & Pau Rausell (UVEG)
In Valencia, Designscapes can now measure its true impact on the capacity building of design-enabled innovation in a key European urban environment.
On Dec. 17, Spain’s third largest city declared its ambition to become a world design centre and officially announced its campaign to be named World Design Capital 2022. The World Design Capital is designated every two years by the World Design Organisation, with the aim of demonstrating the way cities use design to create an inclusive, resilient and sustainable future.
Valencia Mayor Joan Ribó noted that the city has important history and heritage in the field of design, which has been a fundamental tool in crafts and industries such as ceramics, furniture, architecture, plastic arts. Further investing in design-driven solutions can only help to make the city an urban model for the 21st century.
Photo: Paul Rausell
Valencia is one of 14 “Designscapes cities” included in the City Snapshot case study of the project, having witnessed enormous progress of design-enabled innovation in dealing with various challenges that the city faces, from new productive models based on digital entrepreneurship, new type of public governance towards design, and large scale commitment to public engagement and social innovation.
In the past year, the Research Unit for Economics of Culture and Tourism (Econcult) at the University of Valencia has been working hard to increase the awareness of design-enabled innovation at both regional (Valencia Autonomous Community) and state level, in close collaboration with different stakeholders involved in the regional innovation system, including design community, enterprises, and public authorities so on.
“There is no doubt that Valencia’s campaign for World Design Capital 2022 is inspired and, to the great content, driven by the project Designscapes,” stressed the director of Econcult at the University of Valencia, Pau Rausell, who was also appointed as strategic director of the campaign.
