Featured image by David P. Scott
We are joining the online global conversation during this year’s UNESCO General Conference by celebrating 75 years of UNESCO and the positive impact our designation has made to our city!
As the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design, we have taken time to reflect on how our place in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network has impacted the lives of Dundee citizens, championed our Dundee based designers and celebrated our rich design heritage, with a look back at some of the projects that we have delivered over the past 7 years.
Our UNESCO City of Design designation is delivered through Dundee Partnership and hosted by V&A Dundee. Our city partners are Abertay University, Creative Dundee, Dundee City Council, Leisure & Culture Dundee, Northwood Charitable Trust, The University of Dundee and V&A Dundee. Learn more about our partners here
You can join in the online celebrations by following the hashtag #UNESCO75, visiting the UK National Commission for UNESCO here and UNESCO’s General Conference here
UNESCO Cities of Design Subnetwork 2018, photography by Alan Richardson.
In 2014, Dundee became the UK’s first, and remains to be the only, UNESCO City of Design which has enabled us to learn from our global network of 246 creative cities, further champion our local designers and embed long lasting engagement with our communities.
Our designation has allowed us to deliver ambitious projects such as Dundee Design Festival which has just seen its 4th iteration spread across four physical locations and online. This major design festival has provided opportunities for Dundee based designers, engaged local communities and enhanced trade for local businesses, as well as inspiring partner design cities in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Since receiving our UNESCO membership, we have also delivered a number of projects with schools and youth groups across Dundee including Dundee Design Parade which almost 1000 young people have participated in so far. Each school class and youth group who have previously participated in Dundee Design Parade have gained new skills and learned about global cultures by selecting a UNESCO Creative City to represent and draw their inspiration from.
This showcase of culture and creativity has further celebrated our city’s place as a City of Design in the global UNESCO network and allowed each participating young person to feel they are a part of this.
Dundee Design Festival 2021, photography by Kathryn Rattray.
Dundee Design Parade 2018, photography by Erika Stevenson.
“Being involved in Dundee Design Parade has been a great way for young people to be as creative as they can, meet new friends which has been one of the best things to come out of this experience, work together to make such a brilliant design and show off what they have created on the day of the Parade.”
Leigh Glennie, The Corner, Dundee Design Parade 2019
Union Street, photography by Sustrans Scotland.
More recently our UNESCO City of Design Dundee team have worked in partnership with Dundee City Council and Sustrans Scotland as part of their national Spaces for People project, funded by Scottish Government to implement the pedestrianisation of central Dundee street; Union Street and pocket parks on Eliza and Craigie Street in Dundee’s Stobswell neighbourhood. Both of these outcomes were driven by what local communities wanted to see in their area and were developed across a number of co-design workshops led by Service Design Academy and local designers.
The positive impact and success that the temporary interventions co-designed by Union Street business owners to assist with national COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 had on their businesses, has recently seen the street’s pedestrianisation become a permanent fixture.
Collaboration on a both a local and national scale is crucial to the success of the projects that we support and deliver. Through working together with our 12 fellow World Heritage Sites, Global Geoparks, Biospheres and Creative Cities here in Scotland, we are now thrilled to be a part of the world’s first UNESCO trail, steered and hosted by Visit Scotland.
Our Lead Officer, Annie Marrs, said:
“Here in Dundee, our UNESCO City of Design designation is a tool for connection; to connect with designers, build relationships with Dundee’s citizens and local, national and international networks. We are one of 246 UNESCO Creative Cities, one of 40 Cities of Design, and now, we are part of the world’s first UNESCO trail, right here in Scotland. Working with the various UNESCO designations across the country to create Scotland’s UNESCO Trail has strengthened our network and allowed us more insight and opportunity to share and learn from one another, reinforcing our national cultural offering. Our design designation places creativity and design at the heart of Dundee’s future, and we embrace the opportunity to be a part of this pioneering national initiative here in Scotland.”
This tool for connection has strengthened both our national and international relationships over the last 7 years, and by taking full advantage of our place in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, we have been able to learn from and collaborate with a number of our sister cities.
An example of this has been our work with Montréal City of Design who developed the original CODE Souvenir concept, profiling the wealth of talent in their city, increasing sales and supporting the success of local designers. Inspired by this model, we launched the first volume of CODE Souvenir Dundee last year, which is a physical and digital catalogue of gift items designed and made by our local designers here in Dundee.
Aimed at corporate purchasers, retailers and the general public, CODE Souvenir Dundee is a place for tourists to find mementos of their visits, for local people to find the perfect gifts for their loved ones and for organisations to showcase local design talent.
CODE Souvenir Dundee Vol.1 catalogue
Another example of our international collaborative way of working, was re-staging a communication tool designed by Agency of None as part of Dundee Design Festival 2019, at Detroit City of Design’s Include Conference in 2019. We were thrilled that both Lyall Bruce and Ryan McLeod of Agency of None were able to attend Detroit’s Include Conference to receive extremely positive feedback from fellow participants first-hand, who were encouraged to answer a series of questions using the bespoke design tools.
Poster Playground at Detroit’s Include Conference 2019, photography by Agency of None.
In 2019, we were also invited to Bilbao Bizkaia Design Week as their guest city of honour where we exhibited installations developed by Dundee creatives, Print Festival Scotland and Biome Collective. Through supporting these Dundee based designers in travelling to Bilbao to participate in their Design Week and learn from our sister city of design was not only a fantastic opportunity for them, but also highlighted the international recognition of the initiatives that we support and deliver here in Dundee, as Bilbao’s Guest City of Honour.
Biome Collective’s Shpeel at Bilbao Bizkaia Design Week 2019, photography provided by Bilbao City of Design.
“One of the benefits of being part of this network is the opportunity to learn from each other. We have always taken inspiration from the visionary cultural regeneration of Bilbao. For Dundee to be invited as their 2019 guest city of honour has been really thrilling and I am delighted that Dundee designers have been able to participate.”
Councillor John Alexander, Leader of Dundee City Council, Bilbao Bizkaia Design Week 2019.
We are extremely thankful for the opportunities that have arisen since becoming a UNESCO Creative City in 2014 and the impact that these have had to the lives of Dundee citizens. We look forward to continuing to work together with our UNESCO Network to create and inspire for many years to come!
