Design & The City - Beirut Design Week 2018
Program Manager
2018
Lebanon
In 2018, Beirut Design Week (BDW) returned for its seventh edition, themed “Design and the City”. Under this theme, designers were invited, alongside activists, writers, educators, and students, to consider design’s transformative role in conceiving of urban space in ways that express our needs, desires, and dreams as city inhabitants.
“Design and the City” draws inspiration from local grassroots movements that address questions of agency and representation in relation to decision-making processes that have a direct impact on our lives. These movements provided alternatives for imagining inclusive models for the urban experience. While the viability of these models continues to be debated and explored in several spaces across the city, this theme offered its platform to showcase objects, tools, vocabularies, and processes that help create new itineraries for the everyday practice of place-making and reclaim the right to the city.
“Design & The City” drew inspiration from local grassroots movements that challenge exclusionary urban development and advocate for the right to the city. The program called for creative practices that rethink access, governance, sustainability, and public life through the lens of design. We asked:
How can creative disciplines collaborate across sectors to address systemic challenges in the urban experience?
The theme was framed around five key inquiries:
Design & Social Change
Design & Fair Use
Design & Environment
Design & Governance
Design & Access
Rather than showcasing what already exists, the edition focused on possibility and experimentation, encouraging designers to imagine alternative futures and participate in urban transformation.
A Participatory Festival Format
The 2018 edition introduced a more participatory and decentralized model, where practitioners and civil society actors co-shaped the festival through:
An Open House co-design event engaging the public in shaping the theme and its implications.
A city-wide Open Call welcoming designers, studios, institutions, and community members to contribute workshops, exhibitions, talks, and installations.
A curated neighborhood-based structure mapping design interventions across Beirut and beyond.
Highlights & Strategic Partnerships
BDW x UNIDO: Two public space installations were co-created with local carpenters in Tripoli, reflecting on urban life in Al Mina.
BDW x MEKER: Designers Speculate on the Kitchen of the Future, Merging Industrial Design and Critical Foresight.
BDW x ADORNO: A curated Beirut collection was produced in collaboration with Adorno and Fabraca Studios, showcasing collectible design rooted in local culture.
