The World Design Cities Conference 2025 (WDCC2025), hosted by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and co-organized by UNESCO, took place in Shanghai from September 25th to 28th. The main venue was located at 689 Jumen Road, Huangpu District, with collaborative events held across the city and abroad.

Year 2025 marks the 15th anniversary of Shanghai’s designation as a “Design City” and the fourth consecutive year that Shanghai has hosted the World Design Capital Conference. This year’s conference, themed “Design Boosts Flourishing” , continues to uphold its mission and vision of “building a global platform for design innovation and cooperation, exploring paths for design-driven new development, and promoting the integration of design into cities and everyday life.”

The University of Macau was invited to participate in the event for the first time. Professor Zhou Hongtao from the Department of Art and Design of the Faculty of Humanities brought a series of works to the main exhibition venue on Jumen Road and made appearance on CCTV News. Professor Zhou also made a keynote speech at the “WDCC Tongji Design Week-AIGC Virtual and Real Integration for Creative Industry Future Forum”.

The longest bench in WDCC: Shanghai-Macao Friendship-Huangpu River Link

Hongtao Zhou Debuts the longest belt bench for the cities of Macao and Shanghai to memorize their unique ties between distanced communities. Since 1881, Macao and Shanghai had started cooperation in weather technology and trade. As of today, finance, science, technology, culture, tourism, exhibitions, education and design industries are establishing even stronger bunds between these two dynamic cities. This co-created public bench project is named the Shanghai-Macao Friendship-Huangpu River Link. The winding Huangpu river bench was made of thousands of recycled belts, strips, and metal collected by the Shanghai and Macao communities. The rich colors represent the unique urban texture of Macao and the Shanghai mother river shape symbolizes the spirit of a growing dragon, with endless cycles of life, a legacy passed down from one generation to the next, connecting people from both places.

The curving structure is a metal frame in which the belts are wrapped around, creating the supporting seat surface. Many belts were collected, donated or exchanged by people in Shanghai or Macao, each one holds a personal story. People can trade belts on the bench with a rule of “donate two for one” to that the bench can keep growing, generating a participating art place for community communication and engagement.

Authors: Zhou Hongtao, Wang Shuwu, Sheng Ge, Wang Shihong, and Zhang Xiaotong.

Eco Light

The UM installation, “Eco Light,” is a reborn “Three Lanterns” installation made of rusted iron. Each lantern represents a sprout breaking the ground, a bud about to bloom, and an ecological candlelight illuminating the future. “Three Lanterns” refers to a famous Macau snack street well-known to tourists and the local working-class people, a place Professor Zhou often visits after his arrival to Macao. This Chinese pronunciation of “Three Lanterns” lends the installation a distinctively Macau nickname. Made from recycled metal from construction sites, this piece uses three chemical symbols closely associated with sustainable living—CO2, O2, and H2O—along with chapters from the Chinese and English text of “Tao Te Ching: The Dao Follows Nature”—to illustrate the boundless nature of design and the everlasting legacy of Chinese philosophy. The lamp symbolizes the interweaving of dreams and time, how a single spark can start a fire, and how Chinese wisdom can illuminate humanity’s sustainable future.

Authors： Zhou Hongtao, Zhang Dingwei, Wang Shuwu, Wang Shihong, and Zhang Xiaotong

Project Energy Wood （A Crazy Piece of Wood）

The ash forest was devastated by invasive insects, causing dry logs stranded in mountain forests, which need to be cleaned and utilized. Project Energy Wood （A Crazy Piece of Wood）utilizes the straight fibers of the ash lumber. The design uses a band saw to creatively cut one piece of lumber into noodles from one end and bends the strips to create space while practicing Chinese Kongfu gestures. It is only bended by manpower to maximize the visual energy of a piece of wood, which is also accessible to everyone.  A collection of this series will be included in the first Staff Art Exhibition of Department of Arts and Design.

Authors: Zhou Hongtao, Ge Hongqiang

The World Design Capital Conference is one of the world’s most important design events, bringing together leading global design leaders, top design universities, leading brands, and emerging design forces to showcase cutting-edge design and discuss future development. The participation of the University of Macau’s Department of Art and Design is of great significance, showcasing the university’s exploration and achievements in the emerging fields of art and design.

The following is the curatorial statement by Professor Lou Yongqi, Creative Director of the conference, Head of the Design Discipline at Tongji University, and Advisor to the Design Discipline at the University of Macau.