Valencia, World Capital of Design 2022

From a bird's-eye view, Valencia offers the chance to discover two millennia of history and culture, overlaid with the map of the senses a century of design has drawn on the city. Over the last 100 years, Valencia has been a fountainhead of design and home to several generations of designers who have left their creative mark. The maturity of Valencian design, linked to the Mediterranean and a unique way of life, has led the World Design Organization (WDO) to designate Valencia as the World Design Capital for 2022. But there is no need to wait until the 2022 programme of activities to explore Valencia from the perspective of design. Walking its streets, gazing at its buildings and visiting its museums make it possible to immerse yourself in a torrent of creativity.

This includes everything from the avant-garde architecture of the City of Arts and Sciences and such art nouveau treasures as Colón Market to the urban design that has created unique green spaces like Turia Garden and Central Park. The city's vibrant cultural life includes museums and galleries devoted to Valencian illustrators. Their graphic design has set the standard the world over, from the celebrated Republican artist Josep Renau to the award-winning posters for the Fallas festival by Iban Ramón and the graphic identity of the public transport companies EMT and Metrovalencia, created by Pepe Gimeno.

This creativity springs to life as you tour such neighbourhoods as Carmen, Russafa and Cabanyal. Amid their façades and cultural spaces, design has forged the character of a city where artisanal industries such as pottery and silks made a name for themselves in the world with their design. It is impossible to truly understand Valencia without its cuisine, flavours linked to the sea and the land, in combination with restaurants and cafés where interior design shares space with culinary excellence on an equal footing.

Design is part of Valencia. Come experience, feel and enjoy.