Taking place in the City of Media Arts Enghien-les-Bains, the 11th Creative Cities Annual Meeting will be open to the general public with an artistic programme for the first time in the history of UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Around the theme of DATA CITIES and data collection, the creative DNA of the cities will be exhibited through cultural events during the international event.
Since its creation in 2004, the Creative Cities Network has been a flagship programme of UNESCO, highlighting and promoting the role of culture and creativity in building more inclusive and sustainable cities. This rapidly-growing Network currently unites 116 cities from 54 countries around a common objective: promoting creativity as a motor for development.
Creative Cities place culture and the creative industries at the heart of their local development strategies and policies, and collaborate actively at the international level through intercity projects. The Network maintains that cities – in spite of their cultural, geographic, demographic or economic differences – can support, inspire and enrich one another, and work together, for the sustainable development of all.
In the face of a rapid urbanization, culture is more important than ever as a strategic enabler of renewal for cities and a catalyst for innovation, intercultural dialogue and social cohesion. Following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, as well as the New Urban Agenda in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016, the Creative Cities were called upon to implement these development agendas at the city level.
Together at Enghien-les-Bains, on the occasion of the 11th Annual Meeting of the Network, the Creative Cities will reaffirm their commitment and present concrete actions they have taken towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. UNESCO relies increasingly on the Creative Cities to maximise the power of culture and to imagine the sustainable cities of the future.
—FRANCESCO BANDARIN, UNESCO ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL FOR CULTURE
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