Speech by the Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de
Lille, on the occasion of a dialogue between the City of
Cape Town and the City of Helsinki
The Mayor of Helsinki,
Members of the Board,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning, goeiedag, molweni.
It is an honour for me to be addressing you here today as Mayor of the
first African city to be named as the World Design Capital.
This is a significant moment for us in our history as it comes at a historic
moment in time.
2014 will be the celebration of 20 years of democracy in our country, 20
years of freedom which we shall all celebrate.
That celebration will allow for a time of reflection, to think how far we
have come as a country.
But as with all reflection, we will be positioning ourselves to think of the
future.
If we assess our shortcomings, we will also be assessing how we can face
them and change them.
The next 20 years, and the 20 years after that, demand nothing less if we
are to grow as a country and a society and truly mature into our full
potential.
2014 then is the moment when the past and the future will come together
for us in contemplation.
As World Design Capital, I believe that we will provide the perfect space
for thinking about the timelines of development and the multiple
trajectories that lead from the past into the next stage of our history.
What being the Design Capital will allow us to do is focus our minds and
realise that the next stage need not be entirely unknown to us.
We will be able to assess how far we have come as a city.
In South Africa, cities were designed over decades to divide people. They
were the spatial patterns of discrimination writ large.
The legacy of that calculated pain remains with us and will take many
years to truly address.
But since our new political era, we have been focused on trying to bring
people together, to create a sustainable city that fosters real social
inclusion.
A city belongs to its people and it must be designed for them and their
lives and all the elements they comprise of.
For many years, people have been applying innovative solutions to our
challenges. They have been using design to transform various aspects of
life.
They have found a part of the world and wished to change it. In their own
ways, they have.
But they have often been working without an overarching social goal in
mind. Such is the nature of individual industry.
That is why I am so grateful for this process. It has brought all of these
strands together and made us realise that innovation in all its forms,
when added together, creates development.
It has made us realise that joining together the unique forces of change
on multiple scales adds up to a plan for the future.
What that plan needs is a coordination of its energy.
Our status as the World Design Capital will allow for that.
We welcome the sharing of best practice with our colleagues in Helsinki
today.
Your lessons learnt will be a valuable transfer of knowledge helping inform
us in everything we do.
We now truly have the capacity to learn from our partners given that we
are well on our way to implementing the framework of our strategy.
Just this morning, I announced the board of the independent company to
manage World Design Capital 2014.
We have approved the seed funding of that company.
And it can now continue according to the approved streams of public
engagement, fundraising, project design consideration and getting the
word out there about making design the centre of life in Cape Town.
In conclusion, the challenges cities face are numerous.
Sometimes, they seem unique.
But when we broaden our scope of reference, we find tremendous energy
and innovation of individuals using design every day to create solutions.
They are found within our city and from all over the world.
In 2014, we seek to channel that energy in a space that celebrates design
as an agent of social and economic change in the urban environment.
In 2014, we will truly mature into a broader international force of cities
adapting to new realities. In so doing, we will contribute to the quality of
life for our cities and the larger body of knowledge that aids urban
development internationally.
Thank you.