By Ogova Ondego and eturbonews.com
Published August 1, 2011

Cape Town, the political capital of the Republic of South Africa, has since the end of Apartheid system in 1994, been using design as a tool to transform and reconnect the city. Now, this approach could see the Mother City winning the bid for for World Design Capital 2014 whose results are set for release on October 26, 2011. Cape Town is competing against Spain’s Bilbao and Ireland’s Dublin.

The city has been engaged in renovation of various landmarks in urban centers through partnerships with a range of service provides.

“We are building an inclusive city, one based around five pillars: the opportunity city, the safe city, the caring city, the inclusive city, and the efficient city. Design is a tool for all of these areas of building a truly inclusive city,” Patricia de Lille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town, said at the hand-over of the World Design Capital 2014 Bid Book.

According to the Bid Book Committee, eturbonews.com reports, the story at the heart of Cape Town’s bid theme is about the city’s use of design to overturn the negative legacy of its colonial and Apartheid past; a cruel design which aimed to divide people, disconnect the city, and force both people of colour and the urban poor to its fringes.

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The platform for Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 bid is an acknowledgement that it is using design as an instrument for social, cultural, and economic change, eturbonews.com says, quoting capetown.travel.

Some of the projects that put Cape Town ahead as a city that is employing design as an instrument of social transformation include the Economic Development Agency, the low-carbon economy Joule electric car in Woodstock; the Reconstructed Living Laboratory in Athlone; and the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading programme in Khayelitsha informal settlement.