Design Empowering Integration and Upgrades of Industry and Urban-rural Development

Chongqing faces challenges in transforming and upgrading long-standing industrial bases, urban-rural integration, cultural diversity protection and living environment improvement. Based on the new concept of “design empowering integration and upgrades of industry and urban-rural development,” Chongqing will build a comprehensive design ecosystem , and aims to build a demonstration zone for urban design and renewal in a super-large city.

Industrial Design

Chongqing, an old industrial base, faces challenges due to limited innovation capacity and increasing resource and environmental constraints in the manufacturing industry. It consistently promotes the integration of “industrial design” across the entire enterprise process, including research and development, production, management, marketing, and after-sales. This empowers the manufacturing industry to achieve high-end, intelligent, and green solutions while enhancing the added value of products and services. This helps the old industrial city achieve industrial rejuvenation, protect and revitalise industrial heritage, and transform the “rust belt of industry” into a “hub of vibrant living.”

By 2022, Chongqing has established more than 300 facilities, including Chongqing Design Park, Chongqing Industrial Design Industrial City, Jinshan Creative Warehouse, and other design-related industrial parks, maker spaces, and incubation bases. It has established 165 municipal-level industrial design centres and 10 national-level industrial design centres. Additionally, there are 22 national-level industrial design centres and 1 national industrial design research institute that have set up branch institutions in Chongqing. The total output value of the cultural and creative industries and design services in the city has surpassed 200 billion yuan, establishing an industrial design innovation and development model that aligns with its distinctive growth patterns.

Firstly, talent cultivation is the core focus. Chongqing has taken the lead in establishing a complete professional title evaluation system for industrial design in the country. This year, the Municipal Economy and Information Technology Commission and the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, in collaboration with the China Industrial Design Association, have opened up a cross-provincial application channel for professional titles in industrial design, breaking through the industry barriers that made it difficult for design talents from different regions to be evaluated.

Secondly, services provide support. Chongqing has established a comprehensive public design service system. Following the principles of unified deployment, guided by regional divisions, sinking services, and precise empowerment, it has formed a public design service system consisting of “headquarters base (municipal level) + district and county sub-centres + professional centres + supporting resource pool.” This promotes distributed and coordinated development of industrial design throughout the city.

Additionally, Chongqing places a strong emphasis on cultivating a thriving industrial design industry ecosystem. It continuously strengthens key links and core capabilities within the industrial design industry chain, including creative design and prototype production. By introducing and nurturing numerous key industrial design enterprises and platforms, it effectively addresses gaps in industrial development.

Engineering Design

Chongqing’s urban development faces unique geographical challenges due to its vast and diverse landscape, which includes significant variations in elevation, complex river systems, and a mix of urban and rural areas. In response to the opportunities of a new wave of urban renewal and the public’s aspiration for a better life, we prioritise a people-centred “engineering design” approach to drive Chongqing’s transformation into a city that is both welcoming and aesthetically pleasing. By focusing on public needs, we optimise facilities and upgrade systems in urban transportation, education, healthcare, streets, and communities. We adopt interactive design concepts to create a digitised smart city while preserving the city’s structure and historical charm, beautifying urban architecture, and optimising urban spaces. Engineering design creates unique living environments represented by stilt houses, forming a magical “8D” city where light rail runs through buildings and five-level eight-way interchanges seamlessly integrate, contributing to the development of an internationally renowned cultural and tourist destination.

As a renowned institution in the field of engineering design, Chongqing Design Group contributes its design expertise to major infrastructure projects, urban renewal, cultural tourism, and ecological conservation, creating a better quality of life and promoting sustainable urban development. As of the end of 2021, the group has nearly 4,000 employees, total assets of £49.3 million, and operating income of £33.3 million. Additionally, Chongqing is also home to nationally renowned engineering design companies such as China Coal Technology and Engineering Group, MCC-CIE, and Lin Tongbin International Engineering Consulting and Design Research Institute.

The Chongqing Survey and Design Association aims to promote industry research and innovation, lead technological advancements, facilitate industry exchanges and collaborations, and serve as a bridge to drive sustained high-quality development in the survey and design industry of our city. The association currently has 120 member units, three supervisor units, and over 400 member organisations, with more than 50,000 professionals engaged in the field.

Fashion Design

Chongqing faces the historic mission and development challenges of promoting integrated urban-rural development, protecting cultural diversity, and constructing the Chongqing section of the National Cultural Park. It has always emphasised harnessing the power of “fashion design” to connect and integrate innovative resources such as technology, culture, finance, and talent. This empowers the creative preservation of intangible cultural heritage traditional crafts and rural revitalisation, activates the creative vitality of traditional crafts and local resources, and achieves mutual prosperity and symbiosis between tradition and modernity, urban and rural areas, and nature and industry. It brings fresh momentum to the preservation of cultural diversity and the promotion of integrated urban-rural development. Fashion design promotes the integration of intangible cultural heritage such as the Xia fabric, pottery, bamboo weaving, and lacquerware into contemporary aesthetics, empowering green poverty alleviation in impoverished rural areas and contributing to the achievement of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty.

Chongqing International Fashion Week has been held for five consecutive sessions, covering areas such as fashion presentations, fashion interpretations, and fashionable lifestyles, creating a fashionable atmosphere in the city. The Chongqing Fashion Designers Association has 207 professionals specialising in clothing and fashion design, including the outstanding designer Liang Mingyu. Through organising design competitions, it supports the development of the fashion industry in Chongqing. At the same time, institutions such as the Dazu Rock Carvings Research Institute, Chongqing Industrial Museum, and Chongqing Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Centre promote the revitalisation and utilisation of industrial heritage and cultural heritage.