Unesco Creative Cities and Sustainable Urban Development

Across cities worldwide, rising housing costs, investment, and rapid urban transformation increasingly challenge local communities’ ability to remain connected to their neighborhoods. Creative spaces, key drivers of urban vibrancy, are among the most vulnerable, facing marginalization alongside the creatives, youth, and cultural practitioners who sustain them. Yet evidence shows that well-designed, locally rooted housing and regeneration models can improve housing offers, strengthen social cohesion, stabilize local economies, and advance environmental sustainability, while safeguarding cultural identity and a shared sense of belonging. Cultural and creative industries contribute 3.39% of the global GDP and 3.55% of global employment, mainly in cities. When embedded in inclusive housing and planning strategies, creativity becomes both an economic engine and a powerful tool for community resilience and empowerment. The UCCN celebrates the transformative role of cities in devising culturally relevant solutions to contemporary urban challenges. With 408 member cities in more than 100 countries, the Network develops place-based solutions to house and support creative communities, regenerate neighbourhoods, and reinforce local identity, directly contributing to SDG 11, and the New Urban Agenda. This event will provide a platform for first-hand exchange among local governments, creative professionals, cultural institutions, and other stakeholders. Through case studies from Azerbaijan and Creative Cities around the world, the session will highlight how culture-driven and community-led urban regeneration strategies, creatives hubs, and housing models can overcome barriers, strengthen social ties, and ensure that urban transformation benefits local populations, including youth, creatives, and vulnerable groups. The discussion will also draw on the series of Urban Solutions on Culture-Driven Sustainable Urban Tourism, a legacy of the joint ONE UN event at WUF12, highlighting sustainable and virtuous practices that leave no one behind, and showcases how culture-based approaches can harmonize housing, tourism, and urban development policies. By amplifying city-led success stories and lessons learned, the event aims to foster peer learning, inspire replicable solutions, and lay the bases for new city-to-city partnerships grounded in locally sourced knowledge.