UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network

UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network

News: Recently, The city of Kozhikode in Kerala was added in UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network (UCCN). Gwalior from Madhya Pradesh was also among the 55 new cities to join the network.

Background:
• These cities have been handpicked to represent seven creative fields — crafts and folk arts, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music.
• Kozhikode was included in the category of literature and Gwalior in the category of music.
• Apart from Kozhikode and Gwalior, Varanasi (music), Srinagar (crafts and folk arts) and Chennai (music) are part of the network.

What is The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN)?
• The UCCN was created in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. It now includes 350 cities in over a hundred countries.
• The network is aimed at leveraging the creative, social, and economic potential of cultural industries.

Objectives of UCCN:
• The UNESCO Creative Cities Network allows member cities to recognise creativity as an essential component of urban development, notably through partnerships involving the public and private sectors and civil society.
• It envisages to develop hubs of creativity and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and professionals in the cultural sector. These cities have to achieve the UN agenda of sustainable development.

Why Kozhikode as city of literature?
• The first Malayalam novel Kundalatha was born in Kozhikode in 1887. It was authored by Appu Nedungadi.
• Several illustrious writers like S K Pottekkatt, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Uroob, Thikkodiyan, NN Kakkad, P Valsala, Akbar Kakkattil, Punathil Kunjabdulla and MT Vasudevan Nair have brought laurels for Kozhikode.