Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) headed to Seoul yesterday for the 2010 World Design Cities Summit, at which he will give a presentation on Taipei's efforts to promote cultural innovation.
Hau will be grouped with the mayors of Bangkok, Beijing, Istanbul and Eindhoven during the summit, which starts today.
His presentation, Taipei: A City of Innovation and Creativity, will be delivered in English.
PHOTO: CNA
Three other Taipei City government officials, Research Development and Evaluation Commission Director Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東), Department of Environmental Protection Director Ni Shih-piao (倪世標) and Administrative Appeals Commission Director Chen Ye-hsin (陳業鑫), are accompanying Hau on his four-day visit.
The delegation is expected to call on Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and to observe infrastructure reform and construction in the South Korean city, a sister city of Taipei.
The World Design Cities Summit is an international event organized by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design in 2005 to promote the idea of city design.
Every two years, a city is appointed “World Design Capital” (WDC) — a designation that provides a distinctive opportunity for cities to present their accomplishments in innovative design and to highlight their success in urban revitalization strategies.
Turin, Italy, was the World Design Capital in 2008, and this year it's Seoul.
More than 500 South Korean and international design industrial experts are expected to attend this year's summit.
The Taipei City Government said Hau’s participation was expected to help the city in its efforts to host the 2011 International Design Alliance Congress this October, with about 3,000 design professionals from 60 countries expected to participate.
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