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grafik mit rosa elementen

Design Policy Days

The Design Policy Days serve as the four-day closing event of WDC 2026 and a central forum for exchange between design, politics, science, and society. The goal is to generate momentum for the sustainable shaping of cities, regions, and democratic community life. Three conferences in Wiesbaden, Offenbach, and Frankfurt are dedicated to the themes of public administration, stance, and politics – exploring how design can act as a catalyst for addressing social and political challenges.

The common thread consists of recommendations from a position paper, which can feed into a Design Action Plan Frankfurt RheinMain. They serve as a roadmap for a political tool that establishes the framework to embed design into politics, public administration, and the region – ensuring that the WDC year yields lasting structures.

The event concludes with the Design Assembly at St Paul’s Church in Frankfurt: it brings together the international network of World Design Capitals with regional actors and opens a dialogue with regional policymakers – where the recommendations are formally presented to politics and society. During the subsequent Convocation Ceremony, the WDC title will officially pass to the next World Design Capital: Busan, South Korea.

To the tickets Interview of AW Architektur & Wohnen with Felix Kosok

3 conference days

grafik mit rosa elementen auf braunem hintergrund

12:00 – 22:00

When Public Service Is Designed

Heimathafen Wiesbaden, German Design Council, Service Design Network (SDN)

Practitioners from the public sector, politics and business with international service design experts come together. The focus is on how citizen-centred services can be further developed in Hesse, the RheinMain region and beyond – and what a creative, citizen-focused bureaucracy needs to achieve this.

Heimathafen Wiesbaden

Grafik mit rosa Elementen auf grünem Hintergrund

10:00 – 20:30

When Form Becomes Attitude

Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach/Main, Board of International Research in Design

How can design take a stand and why this is needed now more than ever? It combines project presentations on interventions in urban space with an international symposium. The focus is on design that is not treated as a service but as an independent stance, one that must assert itself in public space.

Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Offenbach am Main

Grafik mit rosa Elementen auf blauem Hintergrund.

09:00 – 21:00

When Design Gets Political

Deutscher Designtag e. V., Forschungszentrum „Normative Ordnungen“ der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

For anyone who views design as a political force. In collaboration with the German Design Day and the Research Centre for Normative Orders, it focuses on institutional politics: how can design be integrated into political decision-making processes methodologically, structurally and normatively – and how can politics itself be understood as a field of design?

Casinogebäude der Goethe-Universität

The events on Saturday

Die Spitzen der Frankfurter Hochhäuser im Abendlicht

10:00 – 13:00

Network of Cities Meeting

The Network of Cities Meeting provides regional decision-makers with an exclusive first look at the results of WDC 2026—and brings them into direct dialogue with other World Design Capitals.

Ansicht des Turms der Frankfurter Paulskirche

14:30 – 20:00

Design Assembly

WDC 2026 gathers representatives from politics, public administration, academia, design, and civil society at St Paul’s Church for a shared moment of reflection—and new beginnings. In a celebratory ceremony, the title will be handed over to the next World Design Capital—Busan, South Korea.

Foto vom Innenraum des Tokomona Clubs

21:00 – 09:00

WDC at TOKONOMA

WDC Closing Party

TOKONOMA is a grassroots project that was established by a strong community. The closing parties are all about making artists visible to an international audience and bringing people together to celebrate.

Travel Guide

We have put together a travel guide containing the most important information on travelling to Frankfurt RheinMain and your stay there.

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