Bandung, City of Design

Bandung, the capital city of West Java, the most populated province in Indonesia, gained a reputation as a destination for hospitality, culinary and fashion experience since the 1930s. Bandung is home to prominent universities and research centers, particularly those in the fields of art, culture, craft, design and architecture. Young people and creative communities, who dominate the demography of Bandung, keep creating places and prototypes of urban solutions by implementing Design Thinking and Urban Acupuncture methods. Bandung sees Design as a way of thinking to solve urban issues, that manages to create values and meanings according to the actual needs and contexts; Creativity as a strategy to lessen the gap between people and government, people and policy, and among all stakeholders; and Prototype as Social Innovation, experiments: to make rapid improvements that can be conducted by all citizens. With these arguments and track records, Bandung joined UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design in 2015.