Shanghai set to launch annual design week

Shanghai Design Week 2012 will run from November 1 to November 7 under the theme "Design lightens life," city officials announced Wednesday.

"Design Week is a review of the efforts we have made promoting the city's creativity industry and serves as a guide for its future development," said Zhang Zhijing, deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industries Leading Group.

Throughout the week, the event's organizing committee, with guidance from the Shanghai Economic and Information Commission and local government's propaganda department, will hand out 200,000 maps that feature 100 of the city's entertainment locations with notable architectural designs, such as Xintiandi, the Peace Hotel on the Bund and the café Sculpting In Time. The organizer has also created an electronic version of the map as an app for smartphones.

The organizing committee will hand out awards for brand of the year, person of the year and place of the year. Designers, scholars and experts will participate in forums on the development of the city's design industry.

Shanghai is part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, a global platform launched in 2004 that connects cities that want to share experiences, ideas and best practices for cultural, social and economic development.

In 2010, Shanghai won the network's "City of Design" award for its design industry. It was the seventh city in the world to win.