As Davao City grows, so do the challenges that come with a rapidly expanding population, prompting organizers of Davao Design Week 2026 to push design as a practical tool for understanding and addressing complex urban problems.
Mark Seng, team lead of Davao Design Week, said the city’s growing population has created problems that can no longer be effectively addressed by government or a single organization working alone.
“The reason talaga na amo ning gi-himo ning Davao Design Week is because we see that as the city grows, ang Davao City, murag somewhat nagadako atong problema,” Seng said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Annex on Monday.
He said the event aims to broaden the public’s understanding of design beyond aesthetics, construction and physical structures, emphasizing its potential to identify problems and develop solutions.
“But what we want to propose and also the Design Center of the Philippines is proposing is design as solution seeking, solution problem understanding process,” Seng said.
Davao Design Week 2026 will be held from October 8 to 10 at La Herencia Davao along Torres Street, bringing together designers, government leaders, businesses, communities and other sectors to discuss how design can respond to the city’s pressing concerns.
Seng said design can be applied to various aspects of urban life, including governance, public spaces, systems, materials, products and visual communication.
“This is not limited only to construction, but it involves systems design, governance, uh public uh civic uh civic design, materials design, object making, and image making. These are all design categories that are being define sa Design Center,” he said.
He cited Davao City’s population growth as an example of how urban challenges have become increasingly complex.
“In the 1970s, ang atuang population diri sa Davao is uh barely 500,000. But I think you all know today, we are already city population is 1.8 to 2 million,” Seng said.
He noted that problems that could previously be handled on a smaller scale now affect a much larger population and require more collaborative approaches.
Seng described these interconnected challenges as “wicked problems,” or issues that cannot be adequately solved by a single government office, organization or individual.
“We are proposing a participatory design approach,” he said.
While government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Science and Technology already have programs addressing various concerns, Seng said Davao Design Week hopes to complement these efforts through a more inclusive, bottom-up approach.
He said ordinary citizens—including business owners and senior citizens—should also have opportunities to contribute ideas and participate in addressing community concerns.
“Something that an ordinary businessman, senior citizen sa Davao City can actually contribute to this, kaning problem solving. So, empowering them to also, ah you know, do something positive for the community,” Seng said.
Among the issues to be tackled during the event are the estimated 700 tons of garbage generated and disposed of daily in the city, traffic bottlenecks and growing mental health concerns, particularly among young people.
“Kani nga mga problem dili na man gud ni makaya sa isa ka-organization or even the schools, ’di ba?” Seng said.
He said the three-day event will provide a venue for city leaders, designers and other sectors to exchange ideas that could lead to practical programs and solutions.
“This is why we are concerned, and we are doing this event to hopefully talk about these issues and get the leaders of Davao City and also the brilliant designers of Davao City to contribute their ideas, and hopefully we can come up with some good ideas and practical programs or solutions after this event,” he said.
Davao Design Week 2026 carries the theme “DESIGNDUMP: From The People” and the call to action “Life is Better When We Design Together.”
The event will feature a Design Forum with more than 30 speakers and performers, a Makers Market, Micro-Retreat sessions and a Circular Futures Workshop by KindMind.
