EmpathiCITY explored the 11th Saint- Etienne International Design Biennale theme of “empathy” to reveal the transformative power of design as a tool for social cohesion in the metropolis.
Fostering a global urban cohesion.
For the Cité du design of Saint-Etienne, I co-curated with Josyane Franc EmpathiCITY, an exhibition and a colloquium, that featured 11 cities members of the UNESCO Creative Cities of Design network. They were invited to create a special project or present results of actions developed in a collaborative, multi-sector framework. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, community associations, municipal agencies, designers conceived interventions to improve the quality of urban life while fostering social bonds.
At the end of the colloquium, the mayors of the 11 cities signed a Manifesto promising to make a creative and more human city, together. They pledge to hire designers as mediators and advocate for their work particularly in underprivileged, fast-changing neighborhoods.
The exhibition also featured a selection of two initiatives I led previously: 1. work done under the auspices of desigNYC, the New York-based startup I led from 2011-2013 whose mission was to match designers to local associations in need of design services, and 2. ExpoTENtial, a special project I curated in 2011 to engage designers to think of urban sustainable development issues at the hyper micro level of New York.
“At the end of the colloquium, the mayors of the 11 UNESCO cities signed a Manifesto promising to make a creative and more human city.”
