What led Dundee to becoming the UK’s first UNESCO City of Design?
With a population of almost 150,000, Dundee is a compact and dynamic city with a strong cultural identity and history of innovation and creativity. Dundee has time and time again, used culture and creativity as key drivers of social and economic regeneration.
The prestigious title of UNESCO City of Design recognises the city’s diverse contributions to fields including: comics such as the Beano and Dandy, medical research including the invention of aspirin, textile design as having been the world centre of the jute textile industry and universal video games like Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto. Dundee has also been recognised as being the only city in Scotland to have its own dedicated design museum; V&A Dundee.
Home to two leading universities for Art and Design, and Dundee & Angus College who co-founded the UK’s first Service Design Academy with Open Change, Dundee is a vibrant design hub for students to live and study in.
Most importantly, it is the passion and the values of the people who contribute to Dundee’s design sector that has led to Dundee becoming the first and only UNESCO City of Design in the UK. Learn more of Dundee’s Design Stories here
What does the designation mean for our city and how is it implemented?
Becoming a UNESCO City of Design has opened up multiple opportunities for Dundee to learn from its international UNESCO Creative Cities Network and share gained knowledge and resources on a local level. It has enabled Dundee’s designers and design students to visit sister UNESCO Cities of Design and gain valuable first-hand experiences of how other cities embed design in everyday life.
To champion the work of Dundee’s designers and engage citizens in design, UNESCO City of Design Dundee work with a number of partners across the city to deliver a range of projects. This includes the annual Dundee Month of Design which highlights and supports all of the diverse design activity that takes place across the city throughout the month of May, and the biannual Dundee Design Festival which showcases the work of local and national designers; raising the profile of design.
The designation also work to support a number of independent projects such as Biome Collective’s Shpeel and Creative Dundee’s Pecha Kucha Nights. Read more about each project here
UNESCO City of Design Dundee are working to the following fundamental principles, which inform their 2019-2022 action plan:
- Celebrate and demonstrate the impact of design, engaging citizens in design, the work of designers and opportunities for co-design.
- Champion Dundee’s designers by promoting their talent, supporting their creative and commercial success, and involving them in decisions.
- Actively participate in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network/Collaborate and share in developing projects and learnings from other UNESCO Cities of Design.
