Countdown begins to Cape Town... World Design Capital 2014

World Design Capital (WDC) is a biannual honour, awarded by the International Council for Societies of Industrial Design, to cities across the globe to show their commitment to using design as a social, cultural and economic development tool.

Residents pledge support

The City of Cape Town won the honour for 2014, and established a not-for-profit, independent implementing agency, Cape Town Design (CTD). The City provides funds through a three-year grant to implement, run and wind down the 2014 programme; and CTD is tasked with raising additional funds through various private channels.

The theme for WDC 2014 is "Live Design. Transform Life". As the winning city, Cape Town will plan, develop and promote a programme of events to run throughout 2014 focusing on using design as a development tool. Residents have already pledged their support and engaged with the WDC 2014 programme through submitting ideas for design-driven projects that will help to transform our city.

Boost for tourism

The city says it expects an increased flow of visitors throughout WDC 2014. This is based on the fact that urban tourism is a large segment of the global tourism market, and previous WDC titleholders have seen increased visitor numbers as a result of the designation. Helsinki, for example, which was World Design Capital 2012, saw an increase in overnight stays and in fact broke records. There is little reason to doubt that Cape Town, already among the world's top tourist destinations, will emulate or even exceed Helsinki's experience.

For up-to-date information on the programme visit the city's Facebook page World Design Capital Cape Town 2014, or follow it on Twitter at WDC2014, using the hash tag #WDC2014.

See also:

• Download the WDC 2014 Calendar Programme.

• Recognised Projects for WDC 2014

Images and text extracted from the City of Cape Town website.