Frankfurt 2026: The chance for a creative future in Rhein-Main!

Frankfurt 2026: The chance for a creative future in Rhein-Main!

Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland - Great excitement in the Rhine-Main region: Frankfurt was recognized in 2026 as World Design Capital (WDC). This is not just a title, but a real opportunity to lead the city and its surroundings into a more sustainable and fairer future through design. The focus here is: Design should be used as a systemic tool to address social challenges and to develop innovative economic concepts. Project manager Carolina Romahn emphasizes that it is much more about chic design. It's about solving real problems.

However, there is criticism: Many active criticism complain that the specific activities and initiatives have so far been little visible. The final program is to be published in autumn 2023, but the anticipation is already noticeable. Claudio Montanini, President of the Federal Association of Marketing Club, sees the WDC award a way to put the region in a new light. The decision was officially announced in November 2023, and now the provisional event calendar, which could include up to 2000 events, is now a major challenge in the room. Much of it is currently very cultural, which the IHK President Ulrich Caspar is critical.

community and networking

To bring the community together, every third Wednesday of the month of WDC-Stammtisch takes place in changing places in the region. Here are networks and informal exchange of the main components. The meetings are free for everyone, and it is particularly nice that people are also very welcome without their own ideas. This brings a breath of fresh air and new perspectives. The aim is that the regulars' tables in the respective places are established in the respective places for messages of the WDC 2026.

These regulars' tables should not only take place during the preparations for the WDC, but also promote and strengthen the community after 2026. Innovators and creative minds can bring in and develop their ideas through constant networking.

prospects for the creative industries

A particularly exciting topic are the economic effects of the WDC award. Hesse's Minister of Economic Affairs Kaweh Mansori hopes to strengthen the creative industries, which generates around 17 billion euros and has around 150,000 employees. In Frankfurt alone, around 35,000 people work in this area, and half of the sales of the creative industries in Hesse are generated here. In view of the success of other cities that received the WDC title, such as Valencia, whose number of tourists in 2022 rose by 120,000 visitors, the hope of a similarly positive development is also well understood for Frankfurt.

The WDC organizers in Hesse aim to move around two million people into the Rhine-Main region by 2026. Preparations are in full swing and the anticipation in the community is noticeable. "There is something," says Romahn modestly. It remains exciting how Frankfurt and the Rhein-Main region will develop in the coming years and which creative ideas will sprout in the WDC phase.