The legacy of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 lives on in concrete activities
14.03.2014
Cities need design to prosper.
Cities are for citizens. On this principle, Design Driven City has launched concrete activities to help cities utilize design in the development of public services. The project has hired three city designers to work hand in hand with city staff. The utilization of design by cities is detailed on the project’s Web site http://www.toimivakaupunki.fi/en
Design Driven City is a project that continues the work of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. Helsinki was World Design Capital 2012 together with four neighbouring cities, so designated by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) for its vision in the use of design for social, cultural and economic improvement. Design Driven City, to be implemented over 2014-2015, is managed by the World Design Capital Helsinki’s administrative body International Design Foundation.
“Helsinki’s World Design Capital year inspired the participating cities to reflect on the possibilities of design. Design Driven City strives to help the cities and their elected representatives to utilize design. We will not, however, launch new undertakings but work on ongoing programmes,” says Marco Steinberg, the International Design Foundation board member who oversees Design Driven City.
“The methods how public services are developed will inevitably be changing,” Steinberg continues. “Design provides the processes to develop public services and urban environments with the exact tools required to foresee the future. At their best, design methods help us to envision things that do not exist yet.”
City designers are design professionals
Design Driven City has hired Sara Ikävalko, Mikko Kutvonen and Pablo Riquelme as city designers to provide design expertise for development projects in Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Lahti. The city designers will introduce design thinking to the projects. They will identify areas where design could be used and educate the city staff in the procurement of design services.
The city designers join projects of the participating cities, and their work will be used to create best practices for national and international use. The city designers will work with such city projects in which they can develop solutions to benefit other cities as well. For example, cities can improve their understanding of resident needs and ways to engage residents. Design will be used in the projects to bring savings. Design will be used to develop smarter ways to produce public services, and it will be used to rationalize spending to best meet user needs.
In addition to long-term programmes, cities also need to do swift experiments, and they need new ways to test and evaluate activities. The city designers will help city organizations to strengthen the culture of experimentation, and they will assist the design sector to understand how the organizations work.
Work launched with four assignments that reflect the right attitude and action
Design Driven City will work with 10–15 projects over the next two years.
The city designers will start their work with four assignments: they will improve street work sites, create new concepts for youth housing, help develop a festival park where citizens and culture meet, and work towards a networked city. Among other tasks, the city designers will complement the projects with user-oriented approaches, help to harmonize space and services, and integrate diverse city services.
In addition to serving larger projects, Design Driven City assists cities in various design-related questions. As part of the work, the City of Lahti and the Institute of Design and Fine Arts at the Lahti University of Applied Sciences offers a special city design programme for municipal employees and designers who work in public sector projects.
Experiences in the use of design in cities will be shared on the Design Driven City Web sitehttp://www.toimivakaupunki.fi/en The site will record the progress of the assignments step by step and present the cities’ and city designers’ achievements. The overall goal is to encourage the public sector to experiment boldly with the possibilities offered by design.
“The utilization of design could be summarized in two words: attitude and action. The right attitude to have the courage to enter into new situations and to test new approaches without knowing where they may lead. Action that results in learning, accepting that experimentation is part of the work,” Steinberg concludes.
More information:
- Laura Aalto, Communications Director, Design Driven City, +358 40 507 9660
- City designers, see Design Driven City Web site
- Assignments, see Design Driven City Web site
- City design programme, Institute of Design and Fine Arts, Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Sami Makkula, +358 44 708 0102