The Next City publication

The publication The Next City: An Experiment in Interdisciplinary Education explores new models for design education, looking at The Next City Joint Studio as an experiment. It was presented at Beijing Design Week on 27 September 2011 alongside an exhibition and conference on the same theme. The book has been distributed by FRAME China can now be purchased at large design bookstores in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Dalian, Chengdu, Nanjing). For more information on how to purchase a copy of NEXT please contact info@dutchdfa.com.

Today’s cities present new challenges, that ask for a new breed of designers. Who are these future designers; what are their responsibilities, values, and skills; and how do our design schools need to change in order to produce them? 

This book hypothesizes that interdisciplinary, intercultural education will be crucial for the preparation of the next generation of designers. It explores new models for design education, looking at The Next City Joint Studio as an experiment. 

The studio, a 2010-2011 collaboration among eight Dutch and Chinese design schools, was initiated and organized by DutchDFA. It aimed to explore and identify significant research and design directions in the fields of fashion, product design, graphic design, and architecture, and to bring together different interpretations, visions, and scales in the context of future city life. 

Part 1, “The Next City: An Experiment in Interdisciplinary Education”, defines the ambitions of the studio and documents 16 resulting projects. It includes essays by Tihamer Salij (The Why Factory), David Hamers (Design Academy Eindhoven), Wang Min (CAFA), and Ling Fan (CAFA). 

Part 2 is entitled “Designing the Next School; Producing the Next Designer”. It includes essays by Louise Schouwenberg (Design Academy Eindhoven), Annelys de Vet (The Sandberg Institute), and interviews with the leader of the eight participating institutions: Winy Maas (The Why Factory), Jurgen Bey (The Sandberg Institute), Anne Mieke Eggenkamp (Design Academy Eindhoven), Dingeman Kuilman (ArtEZ), Min Wang (CAFA), Pinjing Lu (CAFA), Zhou You (BIFT), and Lintao Tang (Tsinghua). 

The publication was presented at Beijing Design Week in September 2011 alongside an exhibition and conference on the same theme. It is conceived and produced by DutchDFA, in collaboration with the eight schools that were involved in the studio: 

• Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (CAFA), School of Architecture 
• Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (CAFA), School of Graphic Design 
• Tsinghua University
• Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) 
• Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam 
• Design Academy in Eindhoven 
• ArtEZ Fashion Masters in Arnhem 
• The Why Factory at the Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft 

Editors: Jennifer Sigler/Christine de Baan (DutchDFA) 

Designers: Xiao Mage & Chengzi. 

Pages: ±200 

Languages: English/Chinese 

Words: ±20,000 

Print run: 1500-2000