UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN)

02.11.2023

UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

Why in the news?

On the occasion of World Cities Day (31 October), UNESCO has published a new list of 55 creative cities, in which 2 Indian cities are also included.

Important points:

• Kozhikode and Gwalior are the two Indian cities included in UCCN's new list of 55 creative cities.
• Kozhikode in Kerala and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh have made it to UNESCO's list of prestigious creative cities for their contribution in the field of literature and music respectively.
• Kozhikode is the first Indian city to get the City of Literature tag.
• Some of the other major cities added to UCCN's list are Bukhara for crafts and folk art, Casablanca for media arts, Kathmandu for films and Rio de Janeiro for literature.
• The selected cities will participate in the UCCN Annual Conference in Braga, Portugal in 2024 under the theme 'Bringing youth to the table for the next decade'.

Importance :

• The new cities were acknowledged for their strong commitment to using culture and creativity as part of their development strategies and demonstrating innovative practices in human-centered urban planning.
• The newly designated cities will collaborate with Network members to strengthen their resilience in the face of emerging threats such as climate change, rising inequality and rapid urbanization, with 68% of the world's population projected to live in urban areas by 2050.
• These cities receive recognition and respect for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity.

About UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN):

• UCCN was founded in 2004 to promote collaboration between cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
• It consists of member countries and associate members of UNESCO, in which there are 194 members and 12 associate members.
• The overall status and activities within the network are reported in UCCN Membership Monitoring Reports, each report covering a 4-year period for a particular city.
• With the latest additions, UCCN's list now includes 350 cities from over a hundred countries.
• These seven creative fields included in UCCN represent: crafts and folk arts, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts and music.

Indian cities included in UNESCO Creative Cities Network:

• No city from the design and media arts sector from India has been included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
• Crafts and Folk Arts in: Jaipur (2015), Srinagar (2021).
• Film: Mumbai (2019).
• Gastronomy: Hyderabad (2019).
• Literature: Kozhikode (2023).
• Music: Chennai (2017), Varanasi (2015), Gwalior (2023).

Source:The hindu