What is the World Design Capital 2026?

Every two years, World Design Organization awards the title of World Design Capital to a city or region. Frankfurt RheinMain is proud to be World Design Capital 2026! That means: The region will become an international stage for design. Whether you're a professional or simply curious – WDC 2026 invites everyone to help design and explore the kind of future we want to live in.

We want to work with the Frankfurt RheinMain region on pioneering projects and numerous events to explore what design can achieve – for society, for how we live together and for democracy. Our programme gives voice to the region and creates a dynamic platform for exchange and testing ideas and visions.

Throughout the year, our programme focuses on different themes. Those address topics from everyday life, give the programme a lively structure, and bring different dimensions of design to life.

Our Vision

The world feels as though it has fallen out of joint: crises dominate the environment, health, politics, society and the economy. Our democracy is threatened by extreme forces. What seemed true yesterday already feels outdated today. Many people experience uncertainty, pessimism and the sense of a glass that is always half empty. We are countering this pessimism with the World Design Capital Frankfurt Rhine-Main 2026 and its vision of ‘Design for Democracy. Atmospheres for a better life’: moving away from a mood of crisis and towards opportunities. It is important not to be guided by headlines, but by clear values. Our actions should not be determined by fear, but by a clear stance. We create spaces that can be shaped collectively, where people can make a tangible impact – for a future worth experiencing. WDC wants to show what design can do: for our social cohesion, for innovation in the economy and for our climate.

Based on this approach, World Design Capital Frankfurt Rhine-Main 2026 is pursuing four key objectives: improving quality of life through design and shaping change in the region, strengthening regional identity with international appeal, ensuring sustainable innovation and future viability, and bringing democracy to life through participatory design.

What do we mean by design?

Design is a lever for the necessary transformation of society, economy and politics, strengthens our social interaction and makes our values of coexistence aesthetically tangible. Under the title ‘Design for Democracy: Atmospheres for a better life’, the future programme of the World Design Capital 2026 Frankfurt Rhine-Main shows how design promotes sustainable urban development, enables new forms of urban living and working, rethinks mobility and education, and supports environmentally conscious production and consumption. In this way, it creates the basis for a strong sense of community – and enables democratic coexistence. This is exactly what the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region needs today.

Design as a driver of social change

Design is far more than attractive products or elegant forms. It provides the essential framework that shapes our shared lives in every aspect of the everyday. Much like the architecture of a house – not built for its own sake, but for the people who will live within it. Only through the design of space, light and atmosphere does a house become a home. Design creates the structures for an environment in which people can flourish.

At the same time, design enables us to initiate change and to act. It inspires, motivates and is contagious. In this way, it lays the foundation for a strong sense of community – and makes democratic coexistence possible. This is precisely what the Frankfurt RheinMain region needs today.

The Frankfurt Rhine-Main region is extremely heterogeneous and polycentric. In addition to the city of Frankfurt, it also comprises medium-sized and small towns. It is one of the most important economic and financial centres in Germany and Europe, with numerous strong employers, a large number of universities with different specialisations, beautiful landscapes and recreational areas. Yet the region has not yet forged a common identity: there is no shared narrative that unites these different aspects. This presents a major opportunity.

Design creates solutions to problems

World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026 invites everyone to help shape a new, shared identity for the region and to tackle the central questions of our time together: How can public spaces create real value? How do architecture, mobility, business and digitalisation contribute to quality of life? And what role does design play in sustaining a vibrant democracy?

Our aim is to foster a culture of confidence, pragmatism and joy in taking action. Together we want to open spaces for ideas, embrace responsibility and develop concrete solutions that connect local engagement with global perspectives.

We work according to the following five core messages:

Tradition of transformation – The power of design in Frankfurt Rhine-Main

The Frankfurt Rhine-Main region has repeatedly demonstrated its strength in times of social and economic crisis through innovation, diversity and great adaptability. Our internationally recognised heritage ranges from the Paulskirchenbewegung to Das Neue Frankfurt and Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt. We see the World Design Capital 2026 award not as a retrospective, but as a mandate to actively continue this tradition.

Design as a lever for change and cohesion

The WDC 2026 programme shows that design is much more than just form – it is a process that triggers change in all areas of our coexistence. It drives the necessary change: for democratic cohesion, economic transformation and ecological sustainability. Value-based design shows how we can combine technological innovations, natural resources and social action on a small and large scale – for a shared future worth living.

Shaping the future together: the region becomes a workshop for participation

The future is created where people actively participate. In Frankfurt Rhine-Main, citizens, educational institutions, cultural and creative industries, and companies of all sizes are working together to develop new ideas. With 400 projects and up to 2.000 events, the region will become a lively testing ground in 2026, where responsibility is taken, ideas are tried out and new things are created. Pioneering projects show that participation is the key to a sustainable and liveable region – with impulses that will have an impact far beyond the year itself.

Design brings values to life – in everyday life and in society

Design shapes how we live and interact with each other: mobility, service, communication, product and architectural design shape our everyday lives, while social design, political design and policy-making promote social processes and cohesion. Design takes responsibility, develops concrete solutions to the crises of our time and translates values such as democratic cohesion and ecological consideration into practical applications in everyday life. In this way, value-oriented changes in everyday life become not only visible but also tangible, inspiring a desire for transformation.

Creating spaces, promoting attitudes: shaping democracy

Democracy needs places where discourse can take place and participation is possible. Public urban spaces become stages for democratic encounters, while at the same time strengthening social resilience and highlighting sustainable innovations in education, science and the economy. Above all, however, it is about attitude: the responsibility, courage, commitment and effectiveness of each individual contribute to democracy being lived – here and now, in concrete spaces and everyday actions.

The year becomes a movement – WDC 2026 as a catalyst

The World Design Capital 2026 is providing key impetus in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region – for democratic cohesion, design expertise, applied research and future orientation. However, beyond the programme year, its lasting value will only unfold if the structures, networks and initiatives that have been established are perpetuated. The aim is to permanently strengthen the connections between business, science, politics, civil society and culture that were established during WDC 2026 and to continue working together on a sustainable, designed region.

An important component of this consolidation is the establishment of a Design Week. At the same time, the Design Campus of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main universities is to be expanded into a permanent hub for research, teaching and transfer. Initiatives dedicated to shaping our living spaces also have a long-term impact – such as a design advisory board for public spaces or programmes aimed at design-oriented improvements in administration and political decision-making. Because design here means not only form, but also attitude, process and participation.

Ultimately, the continuation of WDC 2026 means laying the foundation for a shared identity for the region. Frankfurt Rhine-Main has long been a functionally networked but narratively fragmented region. The design process has begun to harness this potential and shape a new narrative of togetherness, creativity and responsibility – a narrative that will carry on beyond 2026.