VALENCIA, OCTOBER, 1st 2021. The Project ¨Valencia 360¨ propelled by World Design Capital Valencia 2022 in collaboration with the innovation center Las Naves of the City Council of Valencia and directed by the independent organization Non Architecture Studio, has revealed the teams chosen to create the five images in 360 degrees of different locations around the city that reflect the future of Valencia in both dystopic and utopic visions.
The allotment, the beach, the center, the new Túria channel and the Miramar tower are the five locations of the city to imagine the future in 2050 and reflect on how design, art and architecture can help us and create more sustainable cities with better wellbeing. The spaces selected allow for reflection on key questions such as sustainability, natural resources, tourism, climate change, gentrification, transportation and the economy.
The Valencian Quatre Caps, C•LAB Atelier, and Rarea; the Zimbabwean architect Lloyd Martin and the young design students Ex Figura, formed by 2 Portuguese and Italian architects, are the teams selected to develop the different images of the city of Valencia in 2050. Taking references from five emblematic locations, they will capture their creative idea through a 360-degree virtual image in which they will show two sides of the same coin; 180 degrees of a utopian vision and 180 degrees of a dystopic vision.
The chosen professionals, with an average age of barely 30 years and eager to learn about innovative solutions to designing spaces and architectural visualization, have been selected for the disruptive character of their proposals, all of which focused on Valencia, and the powerful message that they want to launch to the world in every one of the contexts: from the need for sustainable growth to the dangers of irresponsible transportation on public roads, including the importance of local production, the effects of technology on the environment and the preservation of Valencia´s famous allotment, or la Huerta.
In the words of Xavi Calvo, director general of World Design Capital Valencia 2022, ¨Valencia 360 will demonstrate in an impactful, visual way our will to transform the city and everything that comes with a unique opportunity to reflect on the Valencia of the future. The new generation of designers are capable and of participating and even leading a debate about the cities that we want not far in the future. Valencia 360, like so many other projects and initiatives launched by World Design Capital Valencia, it aims to build a discourse and create a legacy that will go far beyond 2022.”
The City Council of Valencia’s councillor of Innovation and Knowledge Management, Carlos Galiana, has restated the importance of this project in which Las Naves is participating: ¨using innovation, creation and reflection, we want to make a healthier, more sustainable, more cooperative and more enterprising city, as we have laid out in our innovation strategy, Missions Valencia 2030. Thanks to this creative outlook, we can see and imagine what the city could be like in the future¨.