News

A delegation from the World Design Capital (WDC) Organising Committee has been visiting Bilbao over the last few days in order to experience first hand the process of urban regeneration which the city has undergone, and the important role played by design in improving competitivity and the quality of life in Bilbao, Biscay and the Basque Country as a whole.

The delegation is made up of professor Martin Darbyshire, cofounder and Director General of the Tangerine Design and Innovation Consultancy, and Dilki de Silva, Secretary General of the International Council of Societies of International Design (ICSID).

The members of the organisation committed assessed the support given by the Basque Government to the projects presented by Bilbao. During a press conference given in the Biscay capital on Wednesday, the members described as "impressive" the urban development experienced by Bilbao during the last few years. Martin Darbyshire also pointed out the sense of excitement and "unity" that could be felt among the the team behind the project for Bilbao''s candidacy to win the award.

Representatives from the Organisation Committee arrived in Bilbao on Monday afternoon and spent Tuesday and Wednesday morning getting to know the different plans and actions on which Bilbao''s candidacy to become World Design Capital are based. The Guggenheim Museum, the Iberdrola Tower, the Palacio Euskalduna, and new university buildings at Abandoibarra (the UPV''s auditorium and the library at Deusto), the cultural and leisure centre AlhóndigaBilbao, the Bilbao Exhibition Center, BilbaoArte, the sports factilities of Miribilla (Bizkaia Fronton and the Bilbao Arena) the Sea University and Underwater Bodega of Plentzia are just some of the places visited by the respresentatives of the committee.

Following their visit to Bilbao, both members of the WDC were scheduled to fly to Dublin, the other city which, along with Cape Town (South Africa) is competing with Bilbao to achieve the international award.

Bilbao, finalist city

Bilbao was successfully shortlisted by the WDC Selection Committee to become World Design Capital for the year 2014, along with Cape Town and Dublin, from among 56 cities in 24 different countries.

The World Design Capital (WDC) Selection Committee will visit all three cities before giving its final verdict on 26th October during the 2011 International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in Taipei, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei).

The title of World Design Capital is designated to a city in recognition of its accomplishments in using design "as a catalyst for development and reinvention," and for promoting urban regeneration to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.

It is awarded by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, based in Montreal (Canada), to a different city every two years. It was first established in 2008, when it was awarded to the Italian city of Turin. Since then the title has been held by Seoul (South Korea) and Helsinki (for 2012).

Bilbao presented its candidacy last April to become International Design Capital of 2014. It received backing from the three political institutions mentioned by Azkuna, as well as from other bodies and firms associated with urban design and national and international figures such as Spanish Ministers Miguel Sebastián and Trinidad Jiménez, designer Philippe Starck and architects Norman Foster (who designed the city''s metro system) and Toshiko Mori.