Zhang Yu JeniZhang13@163.com THE highly anticipated 2024 Global “Cities of Design” Roundtable Dialogue and World Designers Congress took place at the Shenzhen Media Group Building on Saturday afternoon. It was one of the four key thematic activities of this year’s Shenzhen Design Week. The 2024 Shenzhen Design Week, themed “Design for a Better Life,” commenced Saturday morning. The roundtable dialogue and world designers congress brought together renowned designers, experts, scholars, and young creative talent from various design organizations, enterprises, and design colleges and universities worldwide for in-depth discussions on five topics including “Cities of Design: Opportunities and Challenges.” David Grossman, former president of the International Council of Design, hosted the roundtable dialogue session. The guests participated in two rounds of intensive exchanges. The first explored the role of design in shaping the future of urban environments and and the second discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by cities of design around the world. Grossman emphasized the importance of the Cities of Design Network. He pointed out that each member city has a unique path and strategy for promoting design and development that reflect their own regional characteristics and development goals. He further mentioned that this network provides a valuable communication platform between cities and promotes experience sharing and win-win cooperation. During the roundtable dialogue, Grossman put forward a series of targeted questions, based on the introduction of the guests, to explore the unique goals and challenges of each city in the field of design and localized understandings of the word “design.” Ni Qiaobo, a project officer of the secretariat of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, said that design should be people-oriented and closely integrated with the actual local situation to ensure that design results can truly serve the local residents and meet their actual needs. | 