Montreal (Canada) – The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) today announced that the call for bids from design effective cities to become WDC 2018 is closed. Icsid is pleased to have received applications from cities across Asia, North America, South America, and Oceania, illustrating the world’s increasing understanding of the value of design to reinvent a city.

With the submission phase for WDC 2018 closed as of 31 March 2015, the bidding cities move on to the evaluation round. A selection committee consisting of five international experts in the field of design, urban planning and social and economic development will evaluate the entries in a series of deliberations over the coming months. The winning city will be announced on 18 October 2015 in Gwangju (South Korea) during Icsid’s 29th General Assembly.

The WDC 2018 Selection Committee comprises (in alphabetical order):

  • Dr. Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto (Canada)
  • Dr. Wen-je Ko, Mayor of the City of Taipei (Taiwan, Chinese Taipei)
  • Mr. Luyanda Mpahlwa, Director, DesignSpaceAfrica (South Africa)
  • Dr. Mugendi M’Rithaa, Icsid President-Elect 2013-2015 (South Africa)
  • Ms. Abigail Posner, Head of Strategic Planning, Agency Development for Google (United States)

By participating in the WDC 2018 application process, the bidding cities have seized an important opportunity to create value around the power of design to improve their citizens’ lives. As Dr. Brandon Gien, Icsid’s President said today, “They have set their cities on a path of co-creation with the design community to stimulate the economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being of their cities.”

Through its World Design Capital® programme, Icsid aims to nurture the interest expressed in this sixth cycle and foster a network of exemplary design-driven cities to share and learn from their models of successful urban revitalisation.

“As the world organisation for industrial design and in keeping with our vision of design’s inextricable role in the solutions economy, we hope that WDC sparks a collaborative movement of design-driven cities,” said Icsid Secretary General, Ms. Dilki de Silva, “A city development movement that will demonstrate the power of design to tackle society’s biggest challenges.”

For more information:
Ms. Augie Van Biljouw, Icsid’s Director of Communications
t: +1 514 448 4949 ext. 228
e: avanbiljouw@icsid.org