Mexico City - WDC 2018

MEXICO CITY
World Design Capital 2018

The sixth World Design Capital® and the very first city in the Americas to receive this title, Mexico was keen to make use of its heritage and the urbanisation challenges it has to deal with to share its design-based solutions and inspire new initiatives to improve the quality of life of its citizens.

Mexico City is one of the most creative and diversified cities in the Americas: a hyper-connected, cultural, commercial and university capital.

AMBITION

The Mexico 2018, World Design Capital year focused on the theme of “socially responsible design.” Evidence of its keen enthusiasm for design, Mexico, a city that is a blend of old and new, made a strong commitment to sectors affecting the wellbeing and participation of citizens, mobility, the identity of the city, the environment, public spaces and the creative economy.

Innovative programmes were therefore developed in the fields of healthcare, communication and security, urban travel, gardens and urban parks. These initiatives to transform spaces and the lives of local citizens were prioritised in low income neighbourhoods. This transformation through design was also based on an essential priority: protecting what is precious and transforming with respect.

WDC 2018 SYMBOLIC PROJECTS

Mexico 2018, World Design Capital offered a wide range of activities, exhibitions, installations, conferences and documentaries to initiate discussions and interactions highlighting the importance of design in everyday life and its fundamental role in the development of our societies.

PROGRAMME INTER-UNIVERSITAIRE – Ce programme a permis de promouvoir les liens académiques autour du design et de créer une plate-forme de collaboration entre les universités, les facultés et les établissements d'enseignement de design et d'architecture tout au long de l'année. Les sept universités mobilisées ont ainsi développé, au sein de leur campus, des programmes théoriques et pratiques pour échanger autour des aspects les plus importants de la vie en ville, en s’appuyant sur une approche design socialement responsable.

INTER-UNIVERSITY PROGRAMME – This programme helped to promote academic links around design and create a platform for collaboration between universities, faculties and institutions teaching design and architecture, all year round. The seven universities involved developed theoretical and practical programmes on their campuses to examine the most important aspects of life in the city, based on a socially responsible design approach.

The conferences and activities concerned design in its widest sense: innovation, architecture, town planning, the creative economy and public policies. They raised awareness among students of the importance of actions to improve the lives of local residents in their sector of training, as both designers and citizens.

SYMBOLIC EXHIBITIONS – The museum of Tamayo, the museum of contemporary art (MAM), the University museum of science and art (MUCA) Roma and the MUCA campus, the Chopo university museum, the national anthropology museum and the museum of the city of Mexico all held several symbolic exhibitions, individually and collectively, during the design year.

The MUCA Roma presented the exhibition “I want what I want: women, design and empowerment”, exploring the complex, contradictory role played by design in seeking to express gender equality. The Chopo University Museum, in collaboration with Design Week Mexico, offered the exhibition “Collection of Moments, Design in Mexico, 1999-2015”. This collective exhibition consisted of a unique collection on Mexican contemporary design, bringing together over 100 objects from 40 designers, presenting their work and developments over the last 16 years.

The Network of Cities Meeting emphasized design as a multi-sectoral discipline that promotes creativity, problem solving and innovation to face the most pressing global challenges of the 21st Century, and has become a fundamental tool for the transformation and construction of the economic, social , urban and sustainable ambits development from a local level.