BJDW – Netherlands Cooperation

Beijing Design Week (BJDW) and its Dutch partners aim to strengthen their cooperation for the next three years, building on the foundation of their successful collaboration in the previous three editions of BJDW. From 2014 onward, the focus of the BJDW – Netherlands cooperation will increasingly be on the quest for sustainable urbanisation – a red thread throughout the Netherlands’ creative industries endeavours in China. Most importantly it’s about how we can achieve this goal together – China and the Netherlands – how we can jointly work on improving the quality of life in our cities for the long-term.

Ambassador Aart Jacobi aptly emphasizes the need for collaboration: “Creative output is a crucial reflection of our societies and cooperation allows us to learn from one another and gain a deeper mutual understanding. Through enhancing mutual understanding, cooperation in the creative industries can also foster more economic and political cooperation.”

Creating more sustainable cities demands the kind of urban design that combines long-term thinking with interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together planners, designers, engineers, economists, social scientists, and others in an integrated approach from an early stage onwards. Working towards smarter cities and better lives involves more than urban design, it can also be done by other, smaller-scale design disciplines and bottom-up initiatives.

Highlighting the overall theme will be Dutch designer and innovator Daan Roosegaarde’s SMOG project. BJDW and Studio Roosegaarde are currently planning a long-term partnership for the period 2014-2016. You can expect the chance to purchase an exclusive SMOG ring and to finally walk through a fully smog-free patch of Beijing in the very near future.

Other projects starting in 2014 aim to touch on the issues of how to create successful transport development, how to integrate agriculture into the city and how to develop viable creative clusters to nurture the city’s innovative power. Supporting these themes are the plans for the “Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam” (AFFR) at BJDW, which aims to cover the breadth of these topics in a special film programme with workshops at Taikooli – part of BJDW’s brand new film section.

In all, the BJDW – Netherlands cooperation is about working jointly on the urgent themes of our time in a sustainable way: “Design, is not just about aesthetics, essentially it is the approach of solving problems, which is crucial for economic development, environmental conservation and improving the living conditions of a city. Focusing on all the aspects mentioned above, BJDW annually hosts a unique city-wide showcase and is fueling the development of Beijing in many ways.” Zeng Hui, Vice Director BJDW Organising Committee.

Dutch and Chinese partners for the 2014 programme (tentative and subject to change)

Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam; Nauta; MARS Architects; More Architecture; Studio Roosegaarde; VenhoevenCS; Ubi Gallery; Studio HVN; Creative Industries Fund NL; BIAD Studio Wu Chen; Tenio Institute; LAVA; Tsinghua University School of Architecture; Moujiti; Central Academy of Fine Art; Central Planning Bureau of the Netherlands; Interactive Beijing; Beijing Film Academy; The Pin Projects; NEXT architects; Thinking Hands; Seven Stars Group; Studio Rob Sweere; Butterflyworks; Studio Eva de Laat; Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.

About Beijing Design Week

Beijing Design Week is a governmental supported initiative that since 2011 has rapidly established itself as a leading international platform dedicated to design in China, offering an expansive overview of its transforming landscape, while serving as a catalyst, laboratory and incubator for innovative perspectives generating from industry to academia that inspire and shape contemporary design discourse and practice.

First launched with a pilot effort in 2009, in 2011 Beijing Design Week was re-launched as an annual event to involve the international community and promote the design industry by supporting a rethinking of “Made in China” into “Designed in China”.

After having been awarded the title of “City of Design” by UNESCO in 2012, Beijing took the festival as a further signal for a new “Made in China,” highlighting an approach aimed at emphasizing the potential and creativity of the Chinese market.

Beijing Design Week is a government-backed annual cultural event supported by the Municipality of Beijing.

BJDW 2014 will take place from 26 September 2014 through to 3 Oktober 2014

 

(Photos courtesy of Beijing Design Week website. Source of news: Dutch Embassy in Beijing)