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News & events > 55 new cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network

posted on

15 Nov 2023

55 new cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network

On World Cities Day 2023, 55 cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), following their designation by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. New cities were acknowledged for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity as part of their development strategies and for displaying innovative practices in human-centred urban planning. With the latest additions, the Network now counts 350 cities in more than one hundred countries, representing seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.

The new cities include the following ASEM nations: 

  • Battambang (Cambodia) – Gastronomy 
  • Bolzano (Italy) – Music
  • Bremen (Germany) – Literature 
  • Bydgoszcz (Poland) – Music 
  • Caen (France) – Media Arts
  • Castelo Branco (Portugal) – Crafts and Folk Art
  • Chaozhou (China) – Gastronomy
  • Chiang Rai (Thailand) – Design
  • Chongqing (China) – Design 
  • Da Lat (Viet Nam) – Music
  • Fribourg (Switzerland) – Gastronomy 
  • Gangneung (Korea) – Gastronomy
  • Granada (Spain) – Design 
  • Gwalior (India) – Music 
  • Herakleion (Greece) – Gastronomy 
  • Hobart (Australia) – Literature 
  • Hoi An (Viet Nam) – Crafts and Folk Art
  • Iasi (Romania) – Literature 
  • Iloilo City (Philippines) – Gastronomy
  • Ipoh (Malaysia) – Music 
  • Kozhikode (India) – Literature
  • Montreux (Switzerland) – Music
  • Okayama (Japan) – Literature
  • Oulu (Finland) – Media Arts
  • Suphanburi (Thailand) – Music 
  • Surakarta (Indonesia) – Crafts and Folk Art
  • Toulouse (France) – Music
  • Tukums (Latvia) – Literature
  • Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) – Crafts and Folk Art
  • Valencia (Spain) – Design
  • Varaždin (Croatia) – Music

Newly designated cities will cooperate with Network members to strengthen their resilience the face of evolving threats such as climate change, rising inequality, as well as rapid urbanization, with 68% of the world’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2050.

Read about the Creative Cities Network here