Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Club Real, Senckenberg Gesellschaft

Hochschule RheinMain – Maya Ober, Dina Benbrahim

Several courses within the Communication Design degree programme are exploring the theme of the WDC 2026 application.

WDC 2026

The official opening of the World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026.

Hochschule RheinMain – Zainab Marvi

Several courses within the Communication Design degree programme are exploring the theme of the WDC 2026 application.

Deutsches Ledermuseum

Klingspor Museum und Haus der Stadtgeschichte

An afternoon for families, suitable for all ages.

Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt

PolymerFM e.V. | Verein für Kunst, Kultur und Bildung Projektinitiatorin und Leitung: Sabine Lauer, Künstlerin und Kulturmanagerin, DAS KUNSTBÜRO

Deutsches Ledermuseum

Kunstverein Mañana Bold e. V.

The programme places “contested objects” at the centre of attention — material and immaterial elements that provoke political gatherings, shape identities, and open up spaces for action.

Verein zur Förderung von Klimagerechtigkeit e.V. in Kooperation mit dem KoalaKollektiv

Lust auf besser leben gGmbH

A creative public-space initiative that brings together art, design, and democracy.

Frankfurt UAS

Werden und Wirken Architekturen sozialer Praktiken.

wir pflegen e.V.

Hochschule RheinMain – Rebecca Ramershoven, Paul Soulellis

Several courses within the Communication Design degree programme are exploring the theme of the WDC 2026 application.

Museum Angewandte Kunst

WDC 2026

The WDC Hub at Museum Angewandte Kunst is WDC 2026’s central home – a vibrant meeting point where the year’s themes come together. Here, international impulses and regional perspectives converge.

WDC 2026

Civic City

96 international personalities will discuss the present and future of the relationship between design and democracy worldwide and in studios in Frankfurt and Saint-Étienne.

nomad.iv GmbH

Moritz Ahlert & Felix Egle

Kiosk of Solidarity X Bahnhofsviertel is a project in Frankfurt that addresses drug use, homelessness, and social exclusion.

social.form

The Office for Artistic Surveying is a method developed by social.form (Darmstadt) for emotional and subjective exploration of urban spaces. It complements conventional, quantitative urban planning tools.

Jewish Community of Frankfurt K.d.ö.R. and Bureau Mitte, Frankfurt

Typography for Democracy features several events that explore the cultural significance of typography as a bridge between cultures.

Lorenza Manfredi, Licia Soldavini, Lorenzo Malloni & Caterina Selva together with Saloony e.V.

The Street as a Runway explores the use of public spaces. Streets weren’t always meant for cars. In workshops focused on kite-building and flying, people of all ages will come together in the streets.

Dr Eliane Ettmüller, Islamic and political scientist, University of Public Management and Security in cooperation with Prof. Aymar, Rhein Main University of Applied Sciences, both in Wiesbaden, and students

Max Hänisch / Prof. Dr. Ute Lewitzka, by fair means, Bad Tölz / Goethe University Hospital, and students

Jana Steingässer / Kurt Friedrich, Okeanos Foundation, Okeanos und Schüler:innen

Zukunftshafen Frankfurt e.V.

Energy-autonomous micro-houses for homeless people. 2026 in Frankfurt RheinMain.

Über den Tellerrand e.V.

A kitchen container will be stationed in Frankfurt for eight weeks, offering a series of events for everyone.

studio gross klein & Schülern:innen der Georg-August-Zinn-Schule

Young people shaping their neighborhood! Together with experts and the local community they explore and transform public spaces. The city becomes their own project.

Bildungsstätte Anne Frank e. V.

This video format creates participatory spaces for discourse online and meets interesting people at well-known locations in Frankfurt am Main.

FD Kultur Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis

This project strengthens digital participation in the Rheingau-Taunus region. Bibliotheken digifit is a mobile, modular makerspace expanding the possibilities of 15 local libraries and enhancing digital expertise.

Paula Rosolen/Haptic Hide

BEAT BY BITS (BBB) is a dance performance in public spaces across Frankfurt. It tackles the social and political meanings of techno, using a dynamic blend of sound, colour and movement to make these meanings perceptible.

radraum e. V.

radraum is an innovative place for environmentally friendly mobility and culture in Offenbach – it combines a donation-based repair studio, meeting point and event space at the same time.

Elisabet Flascha, Laura Weigand & Marco von der Heyden

Unusual ping pong tables encourage residents to be active, have fun and connect with each other in the city.

Landeshauptstadt Wiesbaden

The historic Walhalla Theatre in Wiesbaden is set to become a vibrant cultural venue.

SCAPE° - Wetter. Klima. Mensch.

The outdoor living room becomes a green oasis in the city centre: with modular furniture, edible plants, and space for connection, exchange, learning, play and culture.

HfG Offenbach

An info box showcasing the concept of the urban cable car.

Stadtentwicklungsgesellschaft (SEG) Wiesbaden mbH

Open Day at the Dyckerhoff Power Plant Hall with lectures, exhibitions, keynotes, and panel discussions on the topic of sustainable building.

RSG Frankfurt 1890 e.V.

A bike race in downtown Frankfurt for all ages and experience levels – makes the bicycle visible in public space and creates a safe environment for cycling.

Werkstatt für angewandte Ökologie GbR

They are large, mobile, and variably positionable, creating new urban and social possibilities for plazas, schoolyards, or park areas.

Diesterweg Scholarship sponsored by the Offenbach Community Foundation

Offenbach’s families build, design, and plant mobile garden beds. They create more greenery, biodiversity, and community connections, forming a visible network throughout the city.

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

For a fair redesign of public streets in Frankfurt am Main.

HfG Offenbach

Making places of democracy visible in public space through AR.

Projektgruppe Wasserhäuschen und die Stadt

Care, democracy and community in urban space.

Hochschule RheinMain

Photographic exploration of vacant buildings.

RSV Pumpe Darmstadt e.V.

Making the invisible visible through cycling: participatory workshops, creative formats, and guided tours.

Karoline Schüßler

In a workshop, ideas, figures, and sets are developed and animated – with a particular focus on upcycling and a sustainable approach to the environment.

HfG Offenbach mit Geschichtswerkstatt Offenbach, studio pari-pari

A workshop with an urban walk to capture structures in the city, followed by an exhibition and publication.

Kulturzentrum Schlachthof Wiesbaden e.V.

Four cultural institutions come together under one roof.

Hochschule Darmstadt (Fachbereich Architektur)

Bildungszentrum Innenstadt | Podium für Wissen und Partizipation

Städel Museum

Live music and contemporary art come together in the Städel Garden.

Su Arts e.V. Offenbach

Music as a universal language overcomes barriers, connects people emotionally and creates genuine closeness between different worlds of life.

Wirtschaftsdienst des Hessischen Handels GmbH

A magazine featuring accessible shops for people with disabilities.

Zum Louis

A mini-festival in 2026 on the theme: How do we want to live – today and in the future?

Denis Siering

Anti-fascist protest songs are translated into artificial birdsong and resound in public spaces.

freitagsküche

Freitagsküche as a democratic art space.

Hochschule Mainz, University of Applied Sciences

Developing democratic interaction spaces.

Umwelt-Exploratorium e.V.

A participatory exhibition with workshops in schools on the topic of plastics.

Struwwelpeter Museum

The exhibition presents current exemplary picture books on the topic of democracy, including high-quality picture book design “made in Frankfurt.”

riso paradiso OFFM (untot e.V.)

An exhibition on urban change and gentrification presents perspectives on displacement and transformation.

Stadt.Land.Wirtschaft.

An initiative for permaculture design in agriculture and serves as an educational space for sustainable development.

Gestaltungszentrale Politik

Improving politics through design-based methods.

Künstlerinnenhaus Freitagsküche, Tobias Still & Maiken Laackmann

Three artistic AR interventions in the Bahnhofsviertel question and promote the democratization of digital space.

Cradle to Cradle – Wiege zur Wiege e.V.

Exhibition on the theme: Thinking in cycles for a liveable future.

Initiative Essbares Darmstadt e.V.

Living climbing plants open up a new perspective on urban greening and serve as a model for other cities.

Amelie Persson

Capturing and sharing places that are accessible to everyone through drawing.

German International University

Students are shaping a public space for exchange and community.

Galerie Rubrecht Contemporary

A neglected green space within Block-10 becomes a sculpture garden.

GEDOK FrankfurtRheinMain e.V.

The exhibition presents artistic positions that explore themes such as care, motherhood, and the role of women.

Anouk Schmelz & Clara Maldener

People gather in public spaces to sing together, creating a sense of community!

Janina Albrecht

Activate a sealed or neglected site where there is little greenery and no non-commercial seating.

formdialog – Olya Dikow

Opening of an open space for architects to reflect on the social responsibility of their practice.

Hochschule RheinMain

Students are designing a distinctive debate space.

Centralstation Veranstaltungs-GmbH

Clubbers collectively shape the acoustic experience through their movements within the sound space.

zan – Hilfsorganisation zur Förderung der Rechte afghanischer Frauen e. V.

Afghan women express their stories through art, text and design.

Stadtwerke Offenbach & GBO Gemeinnützige Baugesellschaft mbH Offenbach

A neglected site in Offenbach becomes a testing ground.

Broken Frames Syndicate

an interdisciplinary, feminist concert series that combines contemporary chamber music with research and educational work through conceptual events.

Über den Tellerrand Frankfurt e.V. & Jonathan Radetz & Akpene Therése Gbogbo

Shared cooking experiences for people with diverse cultural backgrounds, abilities and skills.

Osthang bleibt

For the preservation of a self-managed, non-commercial art and cultural space.

Dexterous Music Collective

An open dance event for anyone who wants to party to selected electronic music in a respectful, relaxed atmosphere. Free of charge, barrier-free, accessible, and for everyone.

Trail-Crew Platte

In Wiesbaden, a new MTB trail is planned – from the Platte toward Rabengrund.

Ute Ritschel

Photo series and eat-art-performances about food.

M&F GMBH

Two raised beds with trees and wild undergrowth at Frankfurts Kleinmarkthalle are being transformed into an inviting meeting place.

Naturpark RheinTaunus

Well-designed route guidance and an online portal with an interactive map.

Prof. Dr. Onur Suzan Nobrega, Prof. Dr. Frank Lang, HoffArt e.V.

Interdisciplinary research project on the post-migrant urban society.

KulturRegion FrankfurtRheinMain gGmbH

Architektur der Nachkriegsmoderne und heutige Gestaltung in der RheinMain-Region.

HfG Offenbach

With content input from Frankfurt initiatives, students at the HfG design fonts for a poster campaign.

Stadtbücherei Frankfurt

An open retreat of calm in the midst of the bustling city centre.

Scholz & Volkmer GmbH

An interdisciplinary hackathon will be held in the areas of design, content and programming.

ID_Frankfurt – Independent Dance and Performance e.V.

The festival for the independent performing arts in Frankfurt and the surrounding region.

OHA e.V.

A bar built collectively from natural materials – a symbol of participation, democracy in action and culture.

BGBA Hanau University of cooperative education

Redesign this important place from pen to ballot box in student designs.

cicero Agentur & Verlag

Stories to listen to tell the democratic history of Frankfurt RheinMain.

Kulturgesellschaft Bergen-Enkheim

Empty retail spaces are filled with cultural content.

HfG Offenbach

Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

A concept for the foyer, courtyard and access routes, developed by raumlabor berlin.

Stabsstelle Bürger:innenbeteiligung Stadt Frankfurt am Main

Accessible and engaging – good design for citizen participation.

AMD Akademie Mode & Design Wiesbaden

Students work together with school pupils to design classrooms for democratic work and learning.

BGBA Hanau - University of Cooperative Education

With the mobile gardens students combine sustainable design, social interaction and ecological responsibility.

Katholische Stadtkirche Frankfurt

A funeral church for everybody.

Hochschule RheinMain

Using street photography of public spaces, to show how important encounters and dealing with differences are for democratic coexistence.

mh-eventproduction , Open Walls

An urban art and education project promoting legal graffiti in Frankfurt’s public spaces.

BGBA Hanau - University of Cooperative Education

Students at BGBA Hanau engage in creative dialogue with the urban community to develop ideas that improve the quality of life and living.

AMD Akademie Mode & Design

The social design project explores what provides stability and how individuals and societies can maintain stance in challenging times.

MKSL Consulting UG / Tapefabrik gGmbH (in Gründung) / Kulturzentrum Schlachthof Wiesbaden e.V. / ALL CAPS gUG

Urban Art Meet-Up and Convention & Tapefabrik Festival 2025 und 2026

Fachbereich Gestaltung und Fachbereich Architektur der Hochschule Darmstadt, Werkbundakademie Darmstadt, Jazzinstitut Darmstadt

Discussion on today's global crises between committed and competent personalities in front of an audience.

IUD Institut für Universal Design Verw.-GmbH

Promoting preventive measures through social dialogues.

Heimathafen GmbH

In two formats, build a resilient community of solutions that initiates tangible change.

KSP Engel GmbH

Debates on collaborative urban design for vibrant places.

Hochbauamt und Amt für Soziales, Landeshauptstadt Wiesbaden

A new meeting place for the neighbourhood.

Institut für Selbstorganisation

Collective, open construction and design days in the open neighbourhood space at Jordanstraße 3.

Miruna Costa

A place where words wander, thoughts fly and generations meet.

WAVA gGmbH

With the help of augmented reality, site-specific installations, performances, and interventions emerge, accessible both on-site and digitally.

Offenbach Institute of Mobility Design

A temporary exhibition and meeting place for mobility, society, and design.

Laura J. Gerlach, strandfilm Produktions GmbH, HessenFilm, Department of Culture Frankfurt

A documentary about Schütte-Lihotzky and the Frankfurter Küche.

Frankfurt UAS

Climate community street play in urban areas affected by climate change.

MakeLab der Goethe Universität

Members of open workshops are gathering to discuss the sustainable and social aspects of their work and share their experiences.

Gymnasium Eltville

Ideas for a more attractive learning and living environment are being developed and realized in collaboration with professionals from architecture, art, and design.

Das fliegende S mit Crespo Foundation & Quartiersmanagement Preungesheim

Residents and experts collaboratively design a square in their neighbourhood.

Anna Dill & Daniel Geyer

A pop-up installation with narrative impulses in public spaces.

basis e.V.

The project offers people from diverse groups and cultures in Frankfurt the opportunity to share their stories.

Familie Monika und Dr. Michael Benz

Affordable living for people with and without disabilities.

Bockenheim außer Haus

The yellow wooden structures are constructed together and function as street furniture, creating more inviting public spaces.

Pia Seewald und Vivien Harazim

A workshop series for learning basic craft skills.

C.C.B.B.

Booty Bounce is a performance project over several months that puts queer BIPoC FLINTA* individuals in Frankfurt in the spotlight, while fostering their participation in the cultural scene.

Frankfurt UAS

The project examines the extent to which current design standards enable or hinder access to housing for broad sections of society throughout the building life cycle.

Hochschule Darmstadt

A temporary experimental field, a meeting place and a research project on the subject of building and design with a view to developing sustainable, aesthetic and inclusive living environments.

Frankfurt UAS

An urban planning student project with a subsequent exhibition in the summer semester of 2026.

Hausprojekt Kolle GmbH / BiBEr- Bildung Beratung Empowerment e.V.

Interested parties are invited to make themselves at home in the rooms, try out materials and engage in conversation. There are workshops, open workshop days and a closing event.

Jasmin Schauer

An open, auditory archive, a participatory podcast designed to capture different perspectives from east and west.

Hochschule Darmstadt

Various carriages featuring sustainable and responsible content are being developed.

Ardi Goldman Kunst- und Kulturstiftung gGmbH

The “100 and 18 Bearers of Hope” Resistance Trail commemorates those who acted instead of looking away. An art trail with over 70 works flanks it.

Luca Ganz

A sound art initiative in the RheinMain region that reimagines church spaces as social and acoustic resonating spaces.

Hemmesmann Fuchs Kämper & Lovers GbR

A participatory theatre installation in public space: people can spontaneously win a change in perception on the giant wheel of fortune.

Stiftung Stadtmuseum Wiesbaden | Sam- Stadtmuseum am Markt

An annual event format that invites discussion on current topics in the field of design and society.

Kunst- und Bewegungslabor e.V.

Based on interdisciplinary methods, visitors engage in collective explorations that resonate with public space, re-appropriate it in new ways, and learn from one another through guided dialogue.

Studio E Y P D & A

An intervention in an urban space perceived as neglected.

Frankfurt UAS

Inclusive kiosk for Frankfurt.

KlarA stadt.land.gut e.V.

A public urban and natural space is to be brought back to life through civic engagement and transformed into a vibrant, open place between the dense city and the slopes of the Taunus hills.

Schader Stiftung

A festival featuring musical, artistic and humanities-based dialogue elements.

Schader Stiftung

In the series of events, in cooperation with the Deutscher Werkbund Hessen e.V. and other partners, ideas and demands for quality are discussed on the basis of various socially relevant topics.

Historisches Museum Frankfurt - Bolongaro Museum Höchst

A participatory special exhibition about the museum in the Bolongaro Palace: How does a cultural palace come into being, and how does it function?

Städtische Museen Hanau

The exhibition sets out to discover how Hanau designs shaped our everyday lives in the past and are shaping our future.

Schader Stiftung

A conference focused on exploring ways to design participatory and democratic processes.

Schader Stiftung

Innovative economic models for the equitable design of the economy and society are developed.

Schader Stiftung

As part of the Hessian Documentary Film Day LETs DOK in Q3/2026, a two-part film forum with an accompanying programme will be organised.

Schader Stiftung

A literary series featuring discussions on current publications on the topic of design for democracy.

andré stocker design + Regionalverband Frankfurt RheinMain

To promote alternatives to motorized individual transport, mobility stations are to be established throughout the region.

Amt für Kultur, Tourismus & Städtepartnerschaften, Magistrat der Stadt Eltville am Rhein

Across the Rhine with the Gutenberg Shuttle: Following in Gutenberg’s footsteps from Eltville to Mainz.

Schader Stiftung

A congress attended by 120 to 150 experts from the fields of sociology, geography, creative disciplines and practical areas.

3DELUXE architecture

An intercultural space for exchange – participatory, sustainable city activation.