From February 23rd to 24th 2010, the World Design Cities Summit took place in Seoul, event through which the Korean capital city opened the year as Design World Capital, biennial title conferred by Icsid.

The event, which involved the Mayor Chiamparino, together with Paola Zini - former Director of the Organizing Committee of World Design Capital 2008 - and the Head of the International Affairs Department of the City of Torino Raffaella Scalisi, represented an important moment of visibility and promotion.

As a matter of fact, the City of Torino was the protagonist of several moments of the programme: on the occasion of the Opening Session with a speech of the Mayor about the city and the 2008 experience; during a Technical Session dedicated to the cities of design; at the Round Table of the Mayors who signed the declaration of the Cities of Design; on the occasion of the closing press release as the speakers were the Mayor of Seoul, the Mayor of Torino and the Mayor of Helsinki next World Design Capitalin 2012.

Besides the Summit the Mayor of Seoul, Oh-See-Hoon, wished a bilateral meeting with the Mayor Chiamparino at the Metropolitan Government Hall. The discussion focused on the management of  large cities and the connected financial aspects. Furthermore, the meeting highlighted the existing relations between the two cities, summoning the several connections which have been built during the years: from the ones in the automotive design field, to the large number of Korean students frequenting training institutes in Torino and last but not least the scientific cooperation relations between the respective athenaeums.

During a working breakfast offered by the Ambassador of Italy in Seoul, Massimo Andrea Leggeri, the Mayor also met representatives of the Italy System in Korea (ICE, IIC, ENIT, Desk Intellectual Rights) and the President of the Club Italia. Straight afterwards he visited the Embassy meeting the personnel, the main representatives and the operators of the economic-commercial sector.

The delegation of  the Mayor Chiamparino then was hosted by the Vice President of the GM Daewoo Design Centre, Taewan Kim.

The mission, that involved many actors from the territory of Torino, was coordinated by International Affairs Department of the City of Torino in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Seoul and with the Metropolitan Government of Seoul.