Prof. Dr. Tanja Brühl
President TU Darmstadt

A bright future is achieved together. By bringing together diverse perspectives, from which new ideas emerge. Through bold curiosity and inviting discourse in the search for tomorrow's innovations. Through a willingness to experiment and a commitment to change. This requires suitably designed spaces that support this interaction – built spaces as well as open spaces, inspirational spaces, and spaces for reflection.

Ulrich Caspar
President IHK Frankfurt am Main

Good design is a decisive lever for economic prosperity, both in terms of product design and in matters of cooperation, such as reducing bureaucracy. Design creates orientation, identity, and innovation; it combines entrepreneurial thinking with cultural depth. The World Design Capital 2026 is therefore an opportunity for the FrankfurtRheinMain metropolitan region – if we approach it from an economic perspective.

Dr. Cihan Çelik
Pulmonologist Klinikum Darmstadt

For a healthy future, we must all take responsibility for our coexistence and our democracy. Design creates spaces in which people are heard and seen, encounter one another, and no one is excluded.

Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff
Executive Board Member at the Leibniz Institute for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF), Head of International Institutions Program, and Professor of International Relations and Theories of Global Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main

Design is one of the keys to a vibrant democracy: we can and must design public spaces in such a way that they bring citizens together without forcing them to reach consensus, but rather encouraging them to engage with one another about the community and how they want to shape it.

Lutz Dietzold
CEO German Design Council

Our future will be better if we consciously shape it: with courage, openness, and responsibility. Design gives us the tools to do this – and provides orientation, connects people, and promotes the economy.

Prof. Dr. Brigitte Franzen

President of the Offenbach University of Art and Design (HfG)

Design gives things and situations a form that allows us to conceive and imagine the future.

Dr. Ina Hartwig
City Councillor, Head of Department for Culture and Science Frankfurt am Main

A better future begins when we design our public spaces in such a way that they promote interaction, diversity, and dialogue. That is what I understand by ‘design for democracy’.

Susanne Haus
President Handwerkskammer Frankfurt-Rhein-Main

Every day, I see how craftsmanship combines tradition and innovation. It is important to me that we use design to show that our roots can give rise to modern, forward-looking solutions.

StS Benedikt Kuhn
State Secretary and Head of the Hessian State Chancellery

Over the past five years, companies in Hesse have won more than 500 design awards. This shows that Hesse is setting standards with its economic power, creativity, and innovative strength. The World Design Capital offers the opportunity to make outstanding Hessian design even more visible. We want to seize this opportunity together and put Frankfurt and Hesse on the world map of design.

Daniela Kupetz
Architect, design and teaching in schools and universities

Education for the future opens up opportunities for young people to develop self-confidence, unleash their talents, and gain the courage to follow their own paths – to take responsibility for themselves, society, and the world.

Stephan Ott
Project Manager/Director, Institute for Design Research and Application (IfDRA)

In times of vicious attacks on democracy, the first priority is not to forget or, worse still, deliberately ignore established fundamental rights. Only on this basis design is – then like no other discipline – capable of translating insights for a better life into practice.

Eric Menges
FrankfurtRhineMain GmbH International Marketing for the Region

For Frankfurt Rhine-Main, the title ‘World Design Capital’ offers the opportunity to raise the region's international profile beyond our traditional strengths in finance, logistics and life sciences. The project must help to draw greater attention to the important contribution made by creativity and our strong creative industry to the success of Frankfurt Rhine-Main. After all, good design brings innovation and opportunities. These are prerequisites for a successful, sustainable and fair future.

Hubertus Väth
Managing Director Frankfurt Main Finance

Money is abstract. Its impact is concrete. A financial centre creates and secures prosperity. For everyone who has plans: whether citizens, small or large companies, or start-ups. We are the lifeline of the economy and the showcase of our country, which is always open to the world. Frankfurt is the leading financial centre in the EU. For us, shaping a positive future means ensuring competitiveness, financing transformation and welcoming people from all over the world.

Karin Wolff
Former Minister of State of Hesse

Democracy is not weakened by debate, but strengthened. Engaging in constructive discourse in various forms and formats that promote listening, genuine exchange, and the path to good decisions is more helpful than simply confirming each other's opinions.

Thomas A. Geisler
Director of the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Design Campus at the Dresden State Art Collections

Shaping the future always means becoming aware of the past and present. That is why Frankfurt, with all its history and stories, is a good place to look to the future and consider democracy and how to shape society and societies. It is essential to proceed with mindfulness and respect for all people, species and nature if we want to offer future generations a good life on this planet. Design is a tool for implementation and also offers the opportunity to speculate visually about the future in order to create a basis for decision-making.

Laura Weißmüller
Architecture editor at Süddeutsche Zeitung

Good design can not only help to make the future better, it must do so now. It is disturbing to see how much society is currently drifting apart and losing sight of overarching goals. That is why it is now important to overcome social divides and bring people back together. To encourage exchange where otherwise only ignorance and aversion grow. This requires places where everyone feels welcome and which also protect nature. Good design can create such places and thus become a powerful tool for a vibrant democracy.

Claudia Neu
Professor of Sociology of Rural Areas

Inner-city green spaces are not only important for the climate, but – equipped with nice, functional street furniture such as benches or shaded seating areas – they are also important places for people to meet and communicate. We need much more good urban design.