A pioneering city
The general director of World Design Capital Valencia 2022, Xavi Calvo, has agreed with the mayor by pointing out that “with this step by the City of Valencia, we become a pioneer city in Spain in terms of design, with this advisory body able to contribute transversely to all areas of the City Council, thus improving the visual, functional and landscape quality of the city of Valencia, as well as the reflection of the definition of the city, its urban policies or the implementation or improvement of municipal services”. In short, he concluded, “a group of professionals of great solvency and proven experience, who can contribute from their vision of how design improves the lives of people in small and large decisions”.
The Local Design Council of Valencia will consist of a total of 12 members: Silvana Andrés Salvador (expert in art, education and childhood), Carmen Baselga Fuster (spaces and interiors), Inés Novella Abril (architect, equality, gender), Kike Correcher González (strategic design), Marisa Gallén Jaime (graphic design), Xavier Giner Ponce (philosopher and teacher in design), Yolanda Pérez Herráiz (spaces and product), Nacho Lavernia Company (industrial and product design), Maite Palomares Figueres (architecture and heritage), Irene Reig Alberola (civic design), Ana Segovia Ciudad Real (product design and art direction) and José Manuel Vidal García (landscape and urban planning).
The Local Design Council will be attached to the Mayor’s Office, and will operate through a system of bimonthly meetings, and will work in specialized committees. Its headquarters will be in the center of social and urban innovation Las Naves, and will be coordinated from the General Coordination of the Mayor’s Office of the City Council in alliance with the València Design Capital Association and the Design Foundation of the Valencian Community.