City design dundee
6 July 2021  

The UNESCO National Trail of Scotland

We are pleased to share that Dundee as the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design will be included in The UNESCO National Trail of Scotland launching in November 2021!

This new digital trail connecting all 13 UNESCO place-based designations in Scotland is the first national UNESCO trail anywhere in the world that brings together our countries full range of UNESCO place-based designations (World Heritage, Global Geoparks, Biospheres and Creative Cities) whilst promoting sustainable tourism.

The trail is designed to increase the value of visitors to the sites, increase geographic spread amongst visitors to Scottish UNESCO designations, engage and involve local communities and local tourism businesses.

Visit Scotland and Green Tourism are hosting ‘UNESCO National Trail of Scotland Industry Webinar’ on Wednesday 21 July at 2pm and are encouraging business owners and industry professionals to sign up, discuss how you can get involved in the trail and how becoming green accredited with Green Tourism can benefit your business.

Book your ticket here

This webinar led by Visit Scotland’s Regional Leadership Director, Paula Ward is open to any business in the following UNESCO designation areas which will form the trail:

  • St Kilda UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Frontiers of the Roman Empire, The Antonine Wall UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Old and New Towns of Edinburgh UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • New Lanark UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • The Forth Bridge UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
  • Wester Ross UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
  • Dundee UNESCO City of Design
  • Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature
  • Glasgow UNESCO City of Music
  • North West Highlands UNESCO Global Geopark
  • Shetland UNESCO Global Geopark
V&A City design dundee
1 June 2021  

UNESCO City of Design Dundee joins V&A Dundee

We are delighted to announce today that our designation as a UNESCO City of Design is now being hosted by V&A Dundee in a new partnership.

We would like to thank Leisure and Culture Dundee for hosting us on behalf of the city over the last 6 years and we are now looking forward to this new chapter.

 

For media enquiries, please contact press@vandadundee.org
To download assets, please visit V&A Dundee’s website here
For full press release please see below:

 

UNESCO City of Design Dundee joins V&A Dundee 

The team responsible for the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design will be hosted at V&A Dundee from today (1 June) in a new partnership.

Dundee’s UNESCO City of Design designation will now be hosted within Scotland’s design museum further supporting the city’s aim to position and champion design as a catalyst for community, physical and economic transformation. The partnership will bring ambition and resources together to further develop Dundee’s design leadership and capacity in the city, across Scotland and internationally.

UNESCO City of Design Dundee and V&A Dundee will collaborate on a range of projects and partnerships in Dundee, working with and learning from communities. The partnership will seek to develop ways to support the city’s designers and Scotland’s design sector while championing design from Scotland internationally. The variety of projects that this collaboration will support includes the biannual Dundee Design Festival.

This year’s Dundee Design Festival will take place in late September. Dundee-based design studio Agency of None will produce the festival which this year is located in venues across the city. These ‘design houses’ will be created in collaboration with local communities and organisations including V&A Dundee and will profile the value of design to our everyday lives.

Since the city became a UNESCO City of Design in December 2014 the delivery team have been hosted by Leisure and Culture Dundee. They have successfully delivered a variety of projects including three editions of the Dundee Design Festival; showcased Dundee designers internationally in exhibitions, conferences and festivals; co-designed the pedestrianisation of Union Street in response to the COVID pandemic with local businesses; launched CODE souvenir Dundee, a catalogue of locally designed gift items; and staged the Dundee Design Parade with hundreds of local young people celebrating Dundee’s place in the global network of UNESCO Creative Cities.

This announcement follows news that V&A Dundee will develop into Scotland’s centre for design over the next three years, which will include new partnerships that position design as one of Scotland’s greatest resources, connects communities, and empowers people.

 

Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “Dundee is a design city, full of ideas, imagination and innovation, with many globally significant design achievements. Its south-facing riverside location with its creative and cultural spaces and communities, two leading universities and college make Dundee a wonderful place to live and work.

“Design enriches all our lives, it is about harnessing ambition and creativity to imagine and to create positive change, and this is so important as we begin our recovery from the pandemic and ask ourselves what kind of future we want.

“We are delighted to welcome, on behalf of the partners, the UNESCO City of Design Dundee team to V&A Dundee and look forward developing our ambitions, for design, for Dundee and for Scotland together.”

 

Annie Marrs, Lead Officer of UNESCO City of Design Dundee, said: “This new partnership cements Dundee’s commitment to design, and to using design as a tool to create change in our city. The programmes we run celebrate and demonstrate the impact of design, embrace co-design, promote talent, engage designers in decision-making and collaborate with other UNESCO Cities of Design.

“Over the last six years, the support of Leisure & Culture Dundee has enabled thousands of people to engage with design and experience design here in Dundee, as well as profile Dundee’s design talent on an international stage. They have encouraged, nurtured and supported the team and designation to flourish.

“We are excited to embark on this next stage of Dundee’s journey as a UNESCO City of Design, and to continue to uphold the values of UNESCO.”

 

Sinclair Aitken, Chair Leisure & Culture Dundee, said: “We are very proud to have been part of a team that secured for Dundee the UNESCO City of Design designation, and to have hosted to date the group of talented individuals responsible for the project.

“They have consistently delivered tangible benefits to the city and in passing the baton on to V&A Dundee trust and expect the successes of the past few years to continue. We are confident the new partnership will lead to greater opportunities and further developments.”

 

John Alexander, Dundee City Council leader, said: “UNESCO status has put Dundee on the international design map while also raising the local profile of the innovative work of our design community and the positive contribution it is making to our communities.

“This new partnership will build on our amazing achievements of the last few years and use design skills to assist in recovery as the city and Scotland moves forward from the public health emergency.”

 

Karen Merkel, UK National Commission for UNESCO, Non-Executive Director for Communication & Information, said: “The UK National Commission for UNESCO congratulates UNESCO City of Design Dundee on forging this unique new venture with the world-renowned V&A Dundee.

“The city of Dundee’s status as a UNESCO Creative City of Design brings with it the global recognition of the city’s rich heritage in design for over 100 years and it now has working relationships with the worldwide network of 40 UNESCO Creative Cities of Design.

“The combined global reach of the UNESCO Creative Cities of Design network and V&A Dundee means that together they can attract and engage an even wider public directly in the whole field of design and give support to active participation in the creative industries.

“The worldwide recognition of UNESCO and the presence of V&A Dundee combined will draw significant attention to the city of Dundee and add lasting value to the cultural life of the city as well as further engaging visitors and cementing Dundee’s place as a leading player in design across the UK and beyond.”

(Ends)

 

Notes to editors: 

UNESCO City of Design Dundee 

Dundee was awarded UNESCO City of Design status in 2014 after meeting tough criteria set by the United Nations organisation. Dundee is the UK’s first, and only UNESCO City of Design.

These include having an established design industry or industries, a cultural landscape fuelled by design and the built environment, design schools and design research centres, practising groups of creators and designers, and design-driven creative industries.

Dundee’s title recognises the design innovations that it has contributed to the world, including aspirin, biomedical research that has led to hundreds of new cancer drugs, comics including The Beano and The Dandy, orange marmalade, and video games including Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto that redefined the global entertainment industry.

Today there are 40 UNESCO Cities of Design, ranging from Bilbao, Detroit, Mexico City, Signapore and Wuhan.

https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/home

UNESCO City of Design Dundee – https://cityofdesigndundee.com/ @designdundee

 

V&A Dundee 

As Scotland’s design museum, V&A Dundee tells a global story, investigating the international importance of design alongside presenting Scotland’s outstanding design achievements.

V&A Dundee features world-class exhibitions alongside the permanent Scottish Design Galleries, and a changing programme of commissions, events and activities.

The new museum has been delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, founded by the Victoria and Albert Museum – the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance – Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise.

V&A Dundee is open 10.00 to 17.00, Thursday to Monday.  

A free timed ticket is now required for museum entry, available at www.vam.ac.uk/dundee @VADundee

5 April 2021  

Spaces for People project plans in Stobswell

We are delighted to share the visualisations of the proposed designs for the Spaces for People project in Stobswell on behalf of Dundee City Council.

We have been working with Service Design Academy since October 2020 to hold a series of community workshops and conversations with Stobswell Forum and community representatives. The results have identified areas and issues and co-designed ideas which have been taken forward by our project team.

The project team of architectural designer Fíona Canavan, designer Louise Kirby and our Desk Officer, Poppy Jarratt, have worked with Old School Fabrications to realise the community’s idea of reclaiming two small sections of road at Eliza Street and Craigie Street to create people focused, friendly spaces full of colour and greenery.

Check out the designs and see if you can spot the shapes and patterns from Baxter Park and Morgan Academy and a little bit closer to Craigie Street!

9 March 2021  

Independent Thinking – A New Era for the High Street

On International Women’s Day 2021, Independent Thinking Podcast released their latest episode featuring our Lead Officer, Annie Marrs.

Annie shares how Dundee’s design heritage has inspired and helped to shape today’s contemporary design scene, before going on to discuss how our approach to design impacts our city’s streets, and the way people in the city shop, work and live.

Listen to the featured episode here

With a focus on the pedestrianisation of Dundee City Centre’s Union Street in 2020 and an insight into both the history and future of Dundee Design Festival, you can listen to the podcast here where you will find out some Dundee Design Festival 2021 exclusives!

Independent Thinking Podcast are an Edinburgh based company who celebrate independent businesses and discuss the future of local high streets across Scotland and the UK.

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18 December 2020  

2020 Round Up

A round up each of the projects that we delivered during 2020!

We would like to thank each of the organisations that we partnered up with to deliver a number of projects throughout 2020, the designers who have worked with us and contributed their ideas, and to the public for engaging in all of the work we delivered and supported. It was a challenging year in many ways and we were pleased that we could continue to support Dundee based artists and designers during the pandemic, using design as a positive tool for bringing about positive change.

 

You can view our Annual Report for 2020/2021 here

Back in March when we faced a national lockdown, we brought back The Design Gameshow with Ryan Mcleod of Agency of None, actor Chris O’Mara and comedian Andy Bullick, streamed live through our Instagram stories. We also saw the return of We Dundee, developed in partnership with Creative Dundee and Agency of None, where we asked Dundee citizens what had surprised them during these times and what should happen next for our city.
Sadly we had to cancel Dundee Design Parade due to restrictions, but our brilliant team of workshop leaders created online workshops that young people could get involved in from home.
We developed the popular Sunny Dundee Face Coverings with Halley Stevensons and Dundee City Council, designed by Pamela Scott and stitched by a brilliant team of speedy makers!
During the summer of 2020, we partnered up with Sustrans’ Scotland Spaces For People programme and Dundee City Council to pedestrianise Union Street with input from local businesses thanks to Service Design Academy. The iconic design was created by Callum Laird.

We were thrilled to launch the first volume of CODE Souvenir Dundee as both a paper and online catalogue, which promotes the work of Dundee based designers available to buy as gifts for both tourists and local people!

Late in the year, selected bike racks were installed across the city as a result of Dundee Cycling Forum’s competition where we paired up local designers with young people from across Dundee. We have also been working with Urban Foresight to commission local designers to reimage electric charger feeder pillars in the city centre.

Finally we rounded up the year by partnering up with Dundee City Council’s Events team and V&A Dundee to brighten up empty shop windows with Christmas-tree inspired displays created by local artists and designers.

Unesco Dity of Design
Union Street. Photography provided by Sustrans Scotland.
Code Souvenir Dundee
CODE Souvenir Dundee Vol.1 Catalogue

It was also a pleasure to virtually meet with all of our international sister Cities of Design and extended Creative Cities during virtual convenings, where we had valuable discussions and were inspired by projects from across the world.

24 November 2020  

CODE Souvenir Dundee Vol. 1 Launch

We are thrilled to announce the release of the first CODE Souvenir Dundee!

Easy to carry and transport, this catalogue of Dundee designed products brings together a special selection of items which evoke a sense of the city, the stories and the people that make it special. This could be in its subject, its materials, or through the story it tells.

Browse the featured products, designers and stockists here

CODE Souvenir is an original concept, developed by our fellow UNESCO City of Design, Montréal and launched in 2010. Since then Montréal have produced five catalogues profiling the wealth of talent in their city, increasing sales, and supporting the economic viability of designers based in their city. We are very happy to celebrate 10 years of Code Souvenir with the launch of Dundee’s first volume in 2020.

Our Desk Officer, Poppy Jarratt said:

“At UNESCO City of Design Dundee, we are so proud to be using the tools and inspiration from Montréal’s Bureau du Design to create CODE Souvenir Dundee. When Dundee was Designated as a UNESCO City of Design in 2014, we were keen to learn from and collaborate with out global network, and CODE Souvenir was something that excited us straight away. After six years of working with our local designers and learning from the Design Cities network, we felt it was time to release our own CODE Souvenir Catalogue to show off and celebrate some of Dundee’s amazing talent. Whether you’re looking to find a gift for a special occasion, a memento as a reminder of Dundee, treats for goodie bags, or even a little treat for yourself – we hope you will enjoy CODE Souvenir Dundee and delighting in what our local designers have produced.

Our colleagues in Montréal have been wonderful in sharing information about this project since we first joined the network and we’ve always had an ambition of producing a version for Dundee. Being able to learn from each other and share ideas is one of the biggest benefits of being a UNESCO City of Design and this is just another example of the ways in which Dundee’s designers are benefiting from our designation.”

If you have any enquiries regarding CODE Souvenir Dundee, please contact Poppy

To find our more about our fellow City of Design, Montréal, visit their website here
23 November 2020  

Union Street Pedestrianisation

We partnered up with Dundee City Council and Sustrans Scotland’s Spaces for People programme in 2020 to deliver a co-designed pedestrianisation for Union Street.
Our Lead Officer, Annie Marrs said: “Being able to engage businesses and residents with local professional designers through co-design sessions to achieve such a result has been an absolute highlight for us this year.”
Hear from some of Union Street’s business owners in this short video below and find out more about Sustrans Scotland here
12 April 2019  

Dundee Named Best Place to Live in Scotland

Scotland’s sunniest city has made it to the top spot beating nine other Scottish locations listed in the Sunday Times 2019 Best Place to Live Guide

“Being named Scotland’s Best Place to Live 2019 by The Sunday Times is further recognition that Dundee is a thriving and exciting city,” said Councillor John Alexander, Dundee City Council leader and spokesperson for Dundee’s One City Many Discoveries campaign.

Read the Sunday Times’ article here

The judges in the annual Best Place to Live awards take into account much more than the mantra of location, location, location.

Appealing and affordable housing, access to good schools and low crime rates are taken into account when deciding on the winner of the Best Place to Live, as are attractive parks and green spaces, accessible cultural activities, good transport links and a strong sense of community spirit – all areas where Dundee scores high in official statistics.

The judges combine market research data with their own experience and insight to ensure the chosen locations truly are places where everyone can thrive.

Helen Davies, The Sunday Times Home editor said: Finding our very own best place to live now feels more important than ever, for our wellbeing and wealth, happiness and health. The Sunday Times has championed locations across the UK that we think are a great place to make a home.”

We say: There are many reasons Dundee’s been named Scotland’s Best Place to Live but for the most obvious, take a walk by the river. Only minutes from the city centre, seals, seabirds and dolphins can be seen from the banks of the River Tay – how many people can enjoy such a spectacular lunch break?

4 April 2019  

Dundee Design Festival 2019 Venue Announcement

Dundee Design Festival will return 21 – 28 May 2019 and will take place in the Keiller Shopping Centre!

Revolving around the theme of Liveable/Lovable Cities, join us for a packed programme of live demonstrations and on demand workshops, produced by Dundee based design studio Agency of None.

“Cities are changing, the spaces we created for the economy of yesterday are left unloved. A city that is modern and progressive is a city that understands its role in collaborating with its citizens to develop a shared identity, remove barriers to progress and instil a sense of pride and possibility in those who live in it and a sense of wonder to those visiting. A liveable/loveable city. The DDF 2019 theme is making cities more liveable and loveable by getting citizens involved and engaged.” said designer Lyall Bruce, Agency of None.

The Festival will close with Creative Dundee’s (and the UK’s) biggest ever Pecha Kucha Night! Taking place on Tues 28 May at Caird Hall Dundee, be sure to grab tickets for Pecha Kucha Night Dundee Vol 24 on their website or at Dundee City Box Office.

For more info check out www.dundeedesignfestival.com and email kirsten.wallace@leisureandculturedundee.com if you would like to volunteer for the third Dundee Design Festival!

7 November 2018  

Liveable/Loveable Cities

We are thrilled to launch our 2019 Dundee Design Festival theme: LIVEABLE / LOVEABLE CITIES

The 2019 festival will explore and play with the similarities and differences between the concept and understanding of Liveable and Loveable in the context of the cities in which we live.

To build and inform the 2019 programme, we are asking you to answer 2 questions:

What would make your city more liveable?

What would make your city more loveable?

You can answer the questions for yourself here: www.dundeedesignfestival.com

Deadline is 6 Dec 2018!

As a member of the global UNESCO City of Design Network, we aren’t just looking for responses from Dundee, but from around the world. In a first for the Dundee Design Festival, our two questions have been translated into six other languages – each chosen for their prominence in Dundee and within the UNESCO City of Design Network – Polish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, French and Spanish.

We believe that design has the opportunity to impact our lives positively and alongside showcasing beautiful design, the festival has always told the stories of how design changes lives. As a festival, we want to use our public platform to have these discussions and to explore what as a city and as designers, we can and need, to do better. Curated by Agency of None, Dundee Design Festival 2019 will try to uncover some of those common feelings about the cities in which we live through a programme of workshops, events, exhibitions and talks. Dates and location tbc, stay tuned for further announcements!