Sir Richard’s grand designs
COUNCIL CHIEF CALLS FOR INPUT INTO THE CITY’S 2025 STRATEGY
AN AMBITIOUS plan to leverage the power of design to support Manchester’s 2025 strategy has been launched.
Council leader Sir Richard Leese wants to work with Manchester’s design community, plus public sector and industry partners, to develop a Manchester Design Manifesto.
He hopes designers, their skills and thinking can help find solutions for the challenges and opportunities detailed in the Manchester 2025 vision, which is aiming to make a world-class city in terms of the economy, property development, infrastructure and culture.
Sir Richard launched the manifesto proposal at the annual Design Manchester Conference at The Bridgewater Hall. He told delegates that while design had always been central to the Manchester story – from the industrial revolution to the city’s regeneration since the mid-1990s – it is now more important than ever to think about how we design public services and make great products from our scientific discoveries like graphene.
He also wants to focus on how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence work for the benefit of the community, and how we best support the fast-growing startup economy that is central to the region’s success.
Sir Richard argued that design, like technology, was a horizontal driver at the heart of all services and economic sectors. He said: “Design represents a significant opportunity for Manchester. We live in an age of transformative change. Design can help us make sure those changes work for the benefit of our city and our communities.”
The manifesto proposal took shape after Design Manchester, which has run an annual design festival in the city since 2013, was asked by the city council to investigate how designers, design skills and design thinking could come up with better solutions for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Lou Cordwell, CEO of magneticNorth, advisory board chair of Design Manchester and co-author of the study, said: “Design, like technology, plays a part in everything we do. We have an unprecedented opportunity to choose how we design the future of Manchester in areas like housing, healthcare, education and skills. We don’t want to design it by default.”
Kasper de Graaf, the study’s coauthor and Design Manchester director, said: “Manchester is at the heart of the largest digital and creative cluster in the UK outside London. Design is central to growing this opportunity.”