Held biennially, the World Design Capital (WDC) is a city promotion project that celebrates the accomplishments in design. As populations grow and economies prosper, the future success in cities are largely reliant on urban planning, design and management. Taipei joined Torino, Seoul, Helsinki, and Cape Town when it was inducted into the league of World Design Capital this year. A global event initiated by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), WDC is selected every two years among applicants with the most design potential. Taipei, like other cities, is expected to face many social challenges in the future, including population, economy, urban environment, healthcare, ecology, and housing, as it grows and matures. In 2012, the city government began initiating several projects under Public Policy by Design. Taipei was the first city in Taiwan to adopt design as a means of urban transformation. Through cross-departmental integration of the city government and participation of experts from industry, government, academia, design professionals, and citizens, the Taipei City government reviews urban problems and uses design thinking to develop public policy based on people’s needs. In addition, Taipei was the first city in Taiwan to hold a series of courses on design thinking in order to cultivate public servants’ knowledge of the concept of design thinking to permeate into all government agencies. Based on the spirit of ‘adaptive city’, WDC Taipei 2016 hopes to call on local designers and citizens to promote urban innovation in Taipei through co-design. Through Adaptive City – Design In Motion, WDC Taipei 2016 will demonstrate that Taipei is an adaptive city that continues to improve, and strives to solve social problems through social design.
