Business of Design Week "BODW CityProg" 200+ Design & Creative Happenings

Finding Clarity in Post-pandemic World with Vision to Design for Society

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 2 December 2020 - The global pandemic has upended our everyday lives like never before. The optometric term "20/20 vision" denotes normal visual acuity measured at a distance of 20 feet. In this age of uncertainties, having such a clear vision becomes ever more important in helping us grasp opportunities and uphold hopes amidst the unprecedented crisis. Organised by Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC), BODW CityProg (CityProg) comes to its third edition this year with the theme "20/20 Vision of Post-pandemic World". We present more than 200 design and creative happenings to inspire you to search for your unique 20/20 vision and a spirit of designing for society.

As in previous years, CityProg spans across November and December. Its 9-day peak period from 28 November to 6 December will coincide with Business of Design Week (BODW) and other concurrent events to ignite an outburst of creativity throughout the city. Carrying on the 3 platforms distinctly curated for different types of creative partners, this year CityProg continues to connect local creativity and design initiatives with incredible local talents to bring to the public 17 one to three-day Anchor Site Festivals, 5 Design EduVation programmes targeting different age groups and more than 50 Satellite Events. They add up to more than 200 activities of various scales and unfold in 4 types of "post-pandemic 20/20 vision": Made in Hong Kong, Wellness and Sustainability, Placemaking and Business as Force for Social Good. All of these visions aim to foster the design thinking and creative problem-solving spirit to boost the city's resilience and agility as the post-pandemic era ushers in.

In addition, organised by Hong Kong Design Centre and initiated in 2018, 3-year creative tourism project Design District Hong Kong (#ddHK) comes to its final year with the theme "transFORM" to forge ahead into the future with creativity.

Creative Tourism Project "Design District Hong Kong #ddHK"

Presents "Colour Fantasy" Chinese Garden Gala in Victoria Park

to "transFORM" Signature Urban Park Through Design and Placemaking

and Lead You to Explore Wan Chai's History and New Possibilities for Public Spaces

As all walks of life are planning ahead for the post-pandemic era, #ddHK is also proactively harnessing design and creativity to present a novel Chinese garden gala "Colour Fantasy" in Victoria Park, a signature urban oasis in Hong Kong. With elements such as mountains, rocks, ponds, windows, paving, bridges and streams, it "transFORMs" the park into a reinvigorating public space for the post-pandemic world where users can relax and recharge themselves.

Victoria Park was originally a typhoon shelter. More than a century ago, with the wish to drive away a plague, people living in Tai Hang performed the "fire dragon dance" and sank the "dragon head" into the typhoon shelter afterwards to symbolise its return to the heaven. In the mid-50s, Victoria Park was built on the land reclaimed from the typhoon shelter. "Colour Fantasy" presents 7 sets of design installations. All of them incorporated elements from the Tai Hang fire dragon dance ritual in the form of design. They are scattered in different corners as if the fire dragon overlays on the entire plan of the park, blessing Hong Kong during the ongoing pandemic.

As the pandemic lingers on, everyone wants to take a breather from the urban hustle and bustle and the stressful fight against the crisis. Green parks which are essential to any city are ideal buffer zones for us. With boundless creativity and imaginations, #ddHK turns Victoria Park into Hong Kong's back garden by curating a series of sense-opening experiences to help citizens return to the great outdoors, immerse in nature and tend to their well-being. Observing social distancing rules, they will also rediscover the park's potentials in the new normal and get inspired to reimagine future public spaces. Having explored Victoria Park, they can follow the "Colour Wan Chai" map to discover the urban palette of Wan Chai through dining, shopping and sightseeing, indulging themselves in uniquely coloured cityscapes.

For further details about CityProg & #ddHK, visit our official website and follow us on social media to explore our city's design surprises anywhere, anytime!

About BODW CityProg

BODW CityProg (CityProg) is a citywide creative business and community activation programme that features 3 distinct platforms: "Anchor Site Festivals", "Design EduVation", and "Satellite Events & Offer". The programme activates local creative neighbourhoods by connecting creative units, business and community organisations through co-creation, exchange, matching and partnership. As new alliances and ideas start to flourish, CityProg engages people of all ages with exciting happenings, enhances public spaces, and encourages creativity and design to take wing in the community, fostering the development of local creative ecosystems.

As a community extension of Business of Design Week (BODW), CityProg spans all year round with its peak in November and December. It was debuted in 2018 by Hong Kong Design Centre, with Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the Lead Sponsor.

About Design District Hong Kong

Design District Hong Kong (#ddHK) is fantasised as a curated open-air design district gallery coupled with festivals to boost tourist attractions in Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po by a series of creative design and street events; through which the inhabitants, cultural and creative communities, local designers and artists familiarise visitors with an "dei dou" (Cantonese) / "di dao" (Putonghwa) authentic experience of Hong Kong with their original design concepts, traditional craftsmanship, distinct architecture, district characteristics and unique stories presented by a cluster of creative modes.

#ddHK is a 3-year Creative Tourism Project with a number of self- guided routes to explore creative works to be updated from time to time in Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po. The entire project is organised in the form of community collaboration, social conversations and participative design, with traditional craftsmanship, localisation street activities and creations. To provide visitors and citizens with an experience that combines local history and culture with rich regional features Optimize the different scenic spots and buildings in the district.