Lille's "Eldorado" and Sydney's "inclusive, resilient" concepts shortlisted for World Design Capital 2020

Date
13 July 2017

The World Design Organisation has announced that the cities of Lille, France and Sydney, Australia have been shortlisted to become World Design Capital 2020. The organisation cites the “effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural and environmental development” as the reasons for selection.

“We are inspired by the way these cities have used design to improve their citizens’ lives,” said Mugendi M’Rithaa, WDO president and member of the WDC Selection Committee. “Both have demonstrated their commitment to the design process – its focus on the end users and the environment in which they live – as a critical tool for resolving some of our biggest urban challenges.”

The shortlist was decided by a committee comprising experts in the fields of design, urban planning and economic and social development.

Lille’s bid centres on the theme Eldorado: the greatest design experiment, and will look to engage its 2.1 million inhabitants in collaborative design-driven projects. Sydney has developed a programme called Inclusive, Resilient that will engage Parramatta and other suburbs to develop an open platform “to engage, collaborate and design a new model of social impact for an increasingly urbanised world.”

The winning city will be announced on the 14 October and will follow previous World Design Captials Torino (2008), Seoul (2010), Helsinki (2012), Cape Town (2014), and Taipei (2016). Mexico City is the designated World Design Capital for 2018.

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Owen Pritchard

Owen joined It’s Nice That as Editor in November of 2015 leading and overseeing all editorial content across online, print and the events programme, before leaving in early 2018.

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