UNESCO hails Cebu as new 'Creative City of Design'

MANILA, Philippines— Cebu City was named as one of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities on Monday.

UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay designated a total of 66 UNESCO Creative Cities.

Cebu was chosen as a Creative City of Design, making it the second UNESCO Creative City of the country.

UNESCO Creative Cities Network was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.

The UNESCO Creative Cities are laboratories of ideas and innovative practice that bring "tangible contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through innovative thinking and action."

These cities "champion sustainable actions that directly benefit communities at urban level."

"All over the world, these cities, each in its way, make culture the pillar, not an accessory, of their strategy," Azoulay said in a release.

"This favors political and social innovation and is particularly important for the young generations," she also said.

In 2017, Baguio City was also hailed as a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art.

The UCCN covers seven creative fields including crafts and folk arts, media arts, film, design, gastronomy, literature and music.

The members cities that form UCCN “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.”—Rosette Adel