UNESCO´s Creative Cities a source and force for development – new research by Charles Landry

In preparation for the next UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) annual meeting held in Östersund, Sweden in September 2016, the 116 member cities will be surveyed. A research project entitled “Maximizing the Potential of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN)” will be conducted by a group of experts from Comedia led by Charles Landry, a world renowned expert in city planning, culture and development. The results of this research will be presented at the meeting.

Charles Landry, key note speaker and moderator at the annual meeting:
”The UCCN balances the organization’s well-known heritage designation by also highlighting contemporary creativity. Effectively UNESCO gives prizes for having something unique or doing something unique. The survey will explore expectations, collaboration, challenges and impacts. It is undertaken in collaboration with UNESCO, the Creative Cities: Mannheim (Germany), Östersund (Sweden) and Mid-Sweden University.”

Charles’ key-note speech on Wednesday September 14th will highlight the extent to which becoming a creative city member has acted as a catalyst for cities in making more of their assets and resources and how creativity can become a source and force for development. He will sketch some scenarios for how member cities and UNESCO can together move forward.

Charles will also speak at the Creative Businessevent on Thursday September 15th and outline how given the dramatic changes of a digitizing world the use of imagination is an increasing pre-requistie to survive. His talk at the Mid-Sweden University Conference will focus of how the power of creativity has emerged on the global radar screen and been evaluated.

Dag Hartman, project leader of the UCCN: 
"The survey undertaken by Charles Landry will give the member cities perspective of their needs and potential in urban and regional development, essential to meet the challenges and future prospects of the UCCN network."

Why the UCCN Network?

Cooperation and the sharing of experience and knowledge is crucial for making creativity a lever for urban development and conceiving of new solutions to tackle common challenges. In this regard, UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network offers unparalleled opportunities for cities to draw on peer learning processes and collaborative projects in order to fully capitalize on their creative assets and use this as a basis for building sustainable, inclusive and balanced development in economic, cultural, environmental and social terms.