It’s done! Cape Town has officially submitted its bid to be World Design Capital 2014, the coordinators of the city’s bid, Cape Town Partnership, handed a copy of the 465-page bid book over to Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Dan Plato, on 30 March 2011.
Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, managing Director of bid coordinators, Cape Town Partnership and Alderman Plato
A bit of background if you’re new to the bid – The World Design Capital is a bi-annual award given by the International Council for Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to a city of its choice. ICSID is based in Canada, and uses the award to recognize cities using design for social, economic and cultural development.
Cape Town is holding thumbs. In his acceptance speech, Alderman Plato noted that 2014 would represent a significant milestone for Cape Town, should it win the bid. He added: “The year 2014 will be the 20th anniversary of our democracy. In 1994 this Council began a process of reconstruction and reconnecting a city that had been physically, socially, economically, culturally and emotionally divided. It is therefore appropriate that the theme of our World Design Capital bid is ‘Live Design: Transform Life.’
Winning gives the favoured city a global focus in the before and during the noted year, with a programme of design-led events. The bid process encourages competing cities to use design to create a blueprint for their future development and positioning in a global marketplace.
“Our bid forms part of a broader vision to position Cape Town as a leading global city and to build on our World Cup success,” said Alderman Plato. “In 2010, we hosted one of the most successful World Cups in recent years and the first on African soil. This provided Cape Town with the backbone of significant infrastructural enhancements and a renewed sense of civic pride. Our aim is to build on that legacy through our World Design Capital 2014 bid. Ours is a proudly African bid, with the ultimate goal of achieving a sustainable, innovative, inclusive and more liveable African city, rooted in the strengths of our people and communities.”
Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, managing Director of bid coordinators, Cape Town Partnership is positive about the opportunities. “The title would enable Cape Town to play host once again to the world and give our own creative industries outstanding opportunities to network both with the international community as well as amongst themselves,” she said recently. “These creative industries are an extremely important part of our local economy. The value of a title such as World Design Capital 2014 will not only expose our creative design talent to the world, but in turn further develop our local industry for decades to come.”
To build on the bid, Cape Town is also to be a UNESCO Design City, part of the Creative Cities Network. The network focuses strongly on socially responsive design and through exchange, assists city in learning how to build a culture of design that is socially responsive.
Cape Town will know by the end of June 2011 whether it has been shortlisted, and by October 2011 whether its bid has been successful. This will allow the city just over two years to prepare.
Portions of Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 bid book, containing valuable information on the creative industries in the city, are available on Cape Town’s World Design Capital website for download.
Want to get involved? Join the Cape Town For World Design Capital 2014 Facebook fan page to keep up with the Capies, and add the bid badge to your email signature and communications.
