A little more than one week from now the activists behind two city bids will be distraught while those of the winning city on the shortlist – Cape Town, Dublin or Bilbao will be dancing in the streets. Who is it to be … Capetonians, Dubliners or Bilbaínos?

Those attending the official announcement of the winning city, taking place in Taipei on the final day of the International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress on Wednesday 26 October, 2011 include:
An eleven person group from Cape Town led by Patricia de Lille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town; Cllr Grant Pascoe; Fritz Marx – Mayor’s Protocol and Events Manager; Conrad Sidego – Mayor of Stellenbosch; Andrew Boraine, Bulelwa Ngewana and Alan Cameron representing – Cape Town Partnership; Luyanda Mpahlwa – Design Space Africa; Skye Grove – Cape Town Tourism; Michael Wolf – Formula D Interactive Design; Jo-Ann Johnston – Provincial Government of WC

Andoni Aldekoa – Delegate Councillor of Bilbao City Hall; Marcos Muro – Coordinator of the Candidacy Bilbao WDC 2014 and Juan Luis Diego – Director General of BEAZ- Innovation Agency of Biscay will represent Bilbao

Dublin’s representatives are led by Dublin Lord Mayor Andrew Montegue, accompanied by Ali Grehan DCA (bid director), Owen O’Doherty DDCA (bid co-ordination) Bob Gray (bid identity) and Barry Sheehan (DIT / IDI).

If you want to see what the competition was like for this hugely important designation check out:

Cape Town:
Bid Theme – LIVE DESIGN. TRANSFORM LIFE.
Web: www.capetown2014.co.za (extracts from the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014 Bid Book, designed and produced by Infestation, here http://www.capetown2014.co.za/gallery/ )

Bilbao:
Bid Theme – DESIGN OF CITIES
Web: http://www.bilbaointernational.com/en/bilbao-selected-as-finalist-to-become-the-world-design-capital-in-2014/ where you can check out their ‘Design of Cities’ clip

Dublin Bid:
Bid Theme – TURN DESIGN INSIDE OUT
Web: http://www.pivotdublin.com/

Helsinki Bid: – Helsinki is designated WDC 2012
Bid Theme – EMBEDDING DESIGN IN LIFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0vu0-ogrIA

Seoul, the South Korean Capital (The Seoul of Design) was World Design Capital 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAztWvlEmaY&feature=related