The Human City Design Workshop aims to create a sustainable city where people and the environment harmonize, and to research and develop the ideas of undergraduate students studying design in order to present a future-oriented city vision and utilize them. Unlike the existing design contests that only evaluate the results, Human City Design Workshop is meaningful in that it is a research-based workshop that deals with the overall process, such as idea generation, the process of inquiry, the role of participating students, and the result.

Since 2020, the Human City Design Workshop has been jointly hosted by Seoul Design Foundation and Korean Society of Design Science, a representative society in the design world. Since its foundation in 1978, the Korean Society of Design Science, which has been conducting theoretical and academic research activities in all areas of design, is collaboratively working with Seoul Design Foundation by offering suggestions on future direction of the workshop, formation of participating teams, recruitment, progress methods, and review standards. Despite the workshop was held online once again due to the unpromising COVID-19 situation, 5 teams from overseas universities in the Czech Republic, Japan and China, and 26 teams from domestic universities participated in the 2021 Human City Design Workshop. All participating teams faithfully carried out the entire process of the workshop and submitted the reports, and I believe that the foundation for a truly international workshop is being prepared for the workshop in 2022.

The novel results of the research-based workshop were presented at the 2021 Fall International Conference of Korean Society of Design Science as we did similarly last year, and it was more meaningful that the conference was held in DDP Seoul-On Studio. I am sure that this will serve as an opportunity for interest and development of DDP and Human City Design Workshop as the results of the workshop were shared not only with domestic and foreign university teams who participated in the workshop, but also with researchers and experts in the field of design across the country, who have participated in the international conference.

I hope that the cooperation between the two institutions will be strengthened as the years go by and the meaning of the Human City Design Workshop will mature. I would like to express my gratitude to professors and students who have participated in the workshop, Kyung Don RHEE, CEO of Seoul Design Foundation, who has allowed this precious place, Inn-seok PARK, General Director of Design Education, who has planned and prepared the event, and to everyone involved, as well as Vice President Byungkeun Oh, Executive Director Soojin Jun of the Korean Society of Design Science, and the Society officials for their dedication.