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World Industrial Design Day Commemorative Event to Be Held in Busan… Designing Urban Resilience

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will host the World Industrial Design Day (WIDD) Commemorative Event at BEXCO Exhibition Center II from June 11 through June 14.

World Industrial Design Day is an international commemorative day designated by the World Design Organization (WDO) to promote the social value and role of industrial design. Commemorative events are held annually around June 29 in countries around the world.

This year’s theme is “Resilience,” highlighting the role of design in enabling societies and communities to achieve sustainable growth amid change and crises.

This event marks the first public-private commemorative event since Busan was selected as the 2028 World Design Capital (WDC) last year and will be held in conjunction with the Busan Design Festival.

Through this event, Busan Metropolitan City aims to explore together how design creates value for citizens’ lives and the future of the city, while sharing with citizens the vision of an inclusive and sustainable design city pursued by Busan as the 2028 World Design Capital (WDC).

The event will feature a range of programs that citizens can directly participate in and experience, including a Global Design Seminar with invited domestic and international experts on June 11 and the operation of a special exhibition pavilion for Busan as the 2028 World Design Capital (WDC) from June 11 to 14.

On the opening day, June 11, a Global Design Seminar will be held with invited domestic and international experts to explore new paradigms in the era of design and artificial intelligence (AI) amid rapidly changing environments.

At the seminar, Kwak Seung-hoon, CEO of VINYL X, will deliver a presentation titled “The Expanding Designer: New Resilience for Design Careers in the AI Era.” Chi Yi Chang, President of the Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI), will speak on “Design to Everyday Life,” introducing the value and role of design as it becomes integrated into everyday life.

The seminar is expected to provide a forum for exchange among domestic and international design professionals, companies, designers, and university students, where diverse perspectives on the future and role of design can be shared.

The special exhibition pavilion, operating throughout the event period, will be organized around “Purple of Inclusion,” the official color of Busan as the 2028 World Design Capital (WDC). It will serve as an interactive space where citizens can directly experience and connect with Busan’s design vision and values.

The pavilion will showcase the vision and values of Busan as the 2028 World Design Capital (WDC), exemplary cases from design support projects conducted by Busan Metropolitan City and Design Council Busan, achievements from the citizen-participation program “Future Busan Design,” and a participatory photo zone. These exhibits will demonstrate the positive impact of design on citizens’ daily lives.

Additional programs will also be offered to allow citizens to directly participate and experience the value of design.

Under the theme “Citizens’ Voices for Resilience,” participants will be invited to write and share their thoughts in response to questions such as, “What small inconvenience in daily life would you like to change through design?” and “What does design mean to you?”

The program is expected to provide an opportunity to explore how design can contribute to solving social issues and enhancing urban resilience through citizen participation and shared understanding, while promoting the values of an “inclusive and participatory design city” pursued by Busan as the 2028 World Design Capital (WDC).

Moon Jeong-ju, Head of the Future Design Headquarters of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “Industrial design goes beyond making products aesthetically appealing; it is an important tool for innovation that helps solve social issues and improve citizens’ quality of life. Through this event, we hope to share the value of resilience embodied in design with citizens and work together to build the future of the inclusive design city envisioned by Busan as the 2028 World Design Capital.”