Kolding
A modern city with 92,000 inhabitants, Kolding is an important high-tech centre for Denmark and Northern Europe. Historically known for textile design and fabrication, as well as silver production, Kolding has become a vibrant creative hub. Grasping the need for innovative ways of enhancing social responsibility and of moving towards inclusive and responsive socio-economic development, the city has first-hand experience in applying design-driven innovation to the public services. As a result, design-driven processes have reduced the municipality?s expenses by US$ 8 million each year from 2013 to 2015.
Kolding hosts a wide range of large-scale conferences and workshops aimed at questioning design and its role in modern society. The Social Impact Conference, which focuses on design for welfare and social innovation, and the international Design Meets Business Workshop, which discusses the value and benefits of design-led processes to businesses development and social life improvement. The city also established a business network for design companies aimed at promoting design as an innovative tool for competitiveness.
The Municipality launched a new vision for the community through the ?We Design for Life? campaign. With assistance from 900 participants in creating the detailed vision, it specifies that concerted efforts for design-driven solutions lead to a better life, entrepreneurship, social innovation and education. This strategy is based on design thinking methodologies, viewing the involvement of the citizens as preconditions for human-centred development. The vision aims to transform Kolding into a full-scale design thinking community by 2022 and to play a decisive role in developing the Nordic welfare system version 2.0.
As a Creative City of Design, Kolding envisages:
- Organizing the 2018 Conference on Social Impact with the theme “Social Impact: Designing Social Protection in the Public Sector”;
- Expanding the Troldhedestien neighborhood with new facilities and activities aimed at attracting all citizens, including those with disabilities and individuals from disadvantaged or vulnerable groups;
- Transforming a 300-meter pedestrian zone into a sustainable green/blue destination 3.0, using solutions that combine sustainability with cultural values;
- Hosting the Kolding Design Week 2018/2019, developed in partnership with local and national stakeholders;
- Organizing the 2018 New Nordic Design Thinking conference, initiated by the University of Southern Denmark, Design School Kolding, and the municipality of Kolding to explore how Scandinavian design thinking can leverage its potential for strategic design and leadership; and
- Organizing the 2018/2019 PPI Conference, which will showcase best practices and facilitate knowledge sharing in the field of public-private innovation.
