Cape Town: Shortlisted as Design Capital 2014.
Cape Town is well-known for its striking natural environs – from the ocean cupping its coastline to that mountain that juts out like a table, inviting patrons to dine at its top once they’ve hiked it. But the city’s urban side is pretty attractive and bustling too.
In fact, it’s just been shortlisted to take the title of World Design Capital 2014, an award honouring cities that use design for social, cultural and economic development. The title will help exhibit the City of Cape Town’s endeavour to boost urban areas by adopting design to improve its residents’ quality of life, and to speed up transformation and social unity.
The vision is to make Cape Town one of the greatest cities in the world to live, work, invest and discover.
Cape Town was picked from 56 hopeful cities and now it’s down to only this Mother City and two others: Dublin, Ireland, and Bilbao, Spain, to win the title. The winner will be named on October 26 this year, during the 2011 International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in Taiwan, and will then have two years to focus on planning for 2014, when they’ll play host to a series of successful design events for the entire year. That’s an assured 365 days in the limelight, globally!
What people have to say:
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille:
“If we win the World Design Capital 2014 title it will be great for South Africa. It will help build Cape Town and the rest of the province’s profile as a leading centre of creativity. Our creative industries have become a sector with great potential, which is why we are currently developing the Cape Town Innovation District that will showcase and foster design excellence in the future. We wish the City well for the final stage of the competition. Winning this title will help drive economic growth and job creation, which is one of the provincial government’s most important strategic objectives.”
Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold:
“Many people associate Cape Town with our beautiful natural surrounds but design and innovation is leading the way for us to become a city that people are increasingly choosing to explore and discover from an urban context. More than half the world’s population lives in cities and urban tourism dominates the international tourism landscape; over 70 percent of international tourism spend occurs in urban areas.”
Andrew Boraine, CEO of Cape Town Partnership:
“Cape Town’s bid is not about designing high-end consumer ‘stuff’. It’s about making better design choices for our city, [for example] public transport systems, public spaces, community facilities, informal settlements upgrading. It’s about industrial design for the low carbon economy, such as the Joule electric car in Woodstock. And about design for social and community development, such as the work of the Reconstructed Living Laboratory (Rlabs) in Athlone and the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrade (VPUU) Programme in Khayelitsha.”
We’re hoping that Cape Town wins, of course, and that the title will do for the city and country what the 2010 Soccer World Cup did – greatly boost and improve infrastructure, an advantage to both locals and tourists.
For more information about this world-class city, click here and watch our video.
Also, read our previous blog posts on Rhino Africa about Cape Town, from a city overview to the popular V&A Waterfront.
The Mother City Has A Good Chance, To Take It!! 😉