World Design Capital 2014 has concluded, but the Mother City is looking beyond 2014.

Cape Town was nominated as the World Design Capital for 2014, beating off fierce competition from rival cities, Ireland and Bilbao, allowing the Mother City to showcase how design can improve lives through a uniquely South African and African context.

The prestigious designation is bestowed upon a city biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.

With the nomination, Cape Town became a focal point for the international design community, hosting a number of design-related projects and events throughout the year, including a number of World Design Capital signature events such as an International Design Exhibition, International Design Policy Conference and International Design Gala.

WDC 2014 positioned the city on the world stage and showed that it is more than just a city of beauty and leisure tourism - it is also a global innovator and leader in socially transformative design.

It allowed the city to showcase some of its ground-breaking and award-winning systems, processes and infrastructure developments which seek to use design to transform the lives of Capetonians.

These included large infrastructural projects such as the MyCiTi integrated rapid transit system, the Green Point Urban Park and the Buitengracht Pedestrian Bridge, as well as community development projects such as the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) initiative as well as less conspicuous urban gardening projects and the revolutionary IT systems being used to help run the city more effectively.

With WDC 2014 concluded, the city has no plans of resting on its laurels with news and updates set to continue, while details of the “Beyond 2014 Legacy” are set to be announced soon. To keep up to date with all the latest news, information on the year that was, and for how you can still tap into the WDC initiatives visit: www.wdccapetown.com