Better city, better life

World Cities Day is founded on the cooperation between the UN Habitat for Better Urban Futures and Shanghai’s Ministry of House and Urban-Rural Development. Every year on 31 October, the day is used to promote interest in sustainable urbanisation globally and encourage partnerships between global cities to address the challenges resulting from urbanisation.

Under the overarching theme of ‘Better City, Better Life’, a sub theme is chosen annually to highlight a specific topic within sustainable urbanisation. In the lead up to 31 October each year, a number of activities are held not only for industry professionals but also for the general public in order to learn how we can rethink our cities, making them more resilient and friendly for citizens.

Our logo developed for the campaign symbolises two peace symbols coming together to form a ‘W’ inspired by the words ‘we’ and ‘world’ which reflects the inclusive nature of the campaign. Equally the hands coming together forms a dynamic city skyline.

The campaign also features hero imagery of ordinary citizens coming together to make a difference to their city even in a small way. This could be anything from separating your recycling to taking a reusable cup to your local cafe to implementing better design practices within property development.

The campaign encourages people to take a selfie with a friend making the ‘W’ symbol in order to raise awareness of World Cities Day on social media platforms. Given that the Day is still relatively unknown outside professional circles, we wanted to encourage engagement with the public, no matter how small.

Our campaign was displayed across Shanghai, from projections along the famous Lujiazui skyline to advertisements on public transport. The corporate communications were used to facilitate the numerous events held in celebration of World Cities Day.

JWDK is proud to be an ongoing partner of World Cities Day, creating work to make a greater positive impact on the world around us.