Debate puts spotlight on next 'Design City' for 2009

The exhibition begins and ends in London, via Vienna, Dessau, Paris, Los Angeles, Milan and Tokyo. The 2008 ‘now’ spot having already been claimed for London, where next? What are the historical shifts, fusions and fractures that will change design in our times, and more pointedly, which are their urban epicentres? Is the next design city somewhere in the booming economies of Brazil-Russia-India-China? With the growing emphasis on social design, and a new orthodoxy forming around ‘design-thinking’ a less tangible concept than what we knew in the 20th century as design – is the next design city in fact not the place with the most design, but the place that needs design the most?

These questions and many more will be hotly debated at the British Council and Design Museum debate on the next Design City on Monday 15 December. The panel will be chaired by Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum and curator of the Design Cities exhibition.

The event will take the form of a rapid-fire series of presentations by passionate advocates of four ‘proto’ design cities. The advocates include the acclaimed architect Ruy Ohtake, who will argue for Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, with its vibrant design scene and host of landmark buildings and structures.

Denis Cherdantsev of Designet, a company that promotes Russian design and runs a web portal that supports the national design community, will argue in favour of Moscow, the largest city in Europe and a melting pot of politics, economics and religion, that is also home to the largest number of billionaires in the world.

Professor M P Ranjan, a designer and a member of the Faculty at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, will argue in favour of Bangalore, the fastest growing metropolis in India, which is also known as the Silicon Valley of India as it has shaped the IT industry with its many software and telecommunications companies. And Ou Ning, a prominent editor and graphic designer, will put forward the case for Beijing, the centre of politics and culture in China, retains its strong traditions and values in the face of globalisation, and will build upon the 2008 Olympics in terms of the advancement of design and technology.

British Council Acting Director Design and Architecture, Alison Moloney, said: ‘This debate will put the spotlight on four globally influential cities and will provide valuable insights into the role of design and architecture in transforming and contributing to their global status’.

An audience vote will be cast the end of the panel debate to decide on which city can offer the most convincing case for the next Design City. The exhibition Design Cities 1851-2008 will be open to the public until Sunday 4 January, 2008.

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For further press information, tickets to the event and interviews with the advocates please contact Eleanor Hutchins or Antony Watson, British Council on firstname.surname@britishcouncil.org or 020 7389 4892

Notes to editors:

The British Council works in 110 countries worldwide to build trust and understanding between the UK and other countries through the arts, education and training, science and technology, sport and good governance. Our income in 2006/07 was £551m, of which grant-in-aid from the British government was £195m. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org

The Design Museum is the world’s leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to graphics, and architecture to industrial design. It is working to place design at the centre of contemporary culture. It demonstrates both the richness of the creativity to be found in all forms of design, and its importance. The Design Museum’s mission is to celebrate, entertain, and inform. Twenty-five years ago, Terence Conran established the forerunner of the Design Museum, the Boilerhouse, in the basement of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. As planned, the Boilerhouse quickly outgrew the V&A and in 1989 it moved on to become the Design Museum, in an architecturally striking transformation of a Thameside warehouse near Tower Bridge. Since then it has emerged as an institution with international status and significance, playing a vital role in making design and architecture a part of the cultural agenda. For more information, please visit: www.designmuseum.org