On World Cities Day, UNESCO designated Mumbai and Hyderabad as ‘creative cities’. While Mumbai was selected for its “contribution to the world of films”, Hyderabad got laurels for its gastronomy as the food industry employs 12% of its residents.
UCCN, created in 2004, is a network of cities which are thriving, active centres of cultural activities in their respective countries. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network now counts a total of 246 cities.
The member cities that form part of the Network come from all continents and regions with different income levels and populations.
They work together towards a common mission: placing creativity and the creative economy at the core of their urban development plans to make cities safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The 7 categories for recognition under UCCN are Crafts and Folk Arts, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Music, Media Arts and Literature. Previously, 3 Indian cities were recognized as members of UCCN, namely- Jaipur-Crafts and Folk Arts(2015), Varanasi-Creative city of Music (2015), Chennai-Creative city of Music(2017)
