Designregio Kortrijk and the Cité du design have organised an international workshop as part of the Mobilities of the Future project with the Unesco Creative Design Cities network, which includes Kortrijk, Detroit, Geelong, Graz, Puebla, Saint-Etienne and Torino.
Each workshop gives rise to a contextual problem, thought through a territory and its singularities. They produce scenarios that are then formalised using the online application Mister D, developed by the design collective Captain Ludd. These scenarios will be added to the Around Autofiction exhibition during the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne 2022.
The workshop took place on the Van Marcke site on Thursday 21 October 2021, during the WONDER event (15 October to 14 November 2021), Kortrijk presented the second edition of the Creative City Festival. This workshop is part of one of the stages of the international project on the mobilities of the future with the Unesco Creative Design Cities, coordinated by the Cité du design and focusing on mobility.
The objective of this workshop was to generate usage scenarios for two city squares, Casinoplein and Conservatoriumplein, currently occupied by car parks. With the ambition to return the public space to cyclists and pedestrians, the city of Kortrijk is currently investing in underground car parks, which will empty the area of static cars. What will happen to these reclaimed spaces when they are vacated? Wasn't this an opportunity to think, together with the citizens, about new creative uses and spaces, respecting the values of the city: ecological, inclusive, and giving pride of place to soft mobility?
Programme for Thursday 21 October 2021
- 09:00-12:00 Architecture & Design bike tour with urban planner Maarten Gheysen + visit to the Casinoplein square
- 12:30-14:00 Lunch and visit of WONDER - Kortrijk Creativity Festival
- 14:00-18:00 Future mobility workshop, led by the Cité du design team, in the hall of Designregio Kortrijk at WONDER with participants from different sectors: designers, students, entrepreneurs, urban planners
- 19:00-20:00 Networking in the Designregio Kortrijk Hall in WONDER
