Background

Globally, the stage is set for taking culture and creativity to a new level as a key for urban development, but only under certain conditions. Meanwhile, crises like the pandemic provoke a dramatic reordering of priorities, as well as deep reflection and rethinking. This has changed the context in thinking about culture, creativity and urban development dramatically. What is culture? Do we take a narrow and broader definition? What is innovation? And what is its relation to creativity? What’s the role of culture and creativity playing in urban development and its innovative capacities? The research project: “Culture, Creativity and Urban Development” initiated by UN-Habitat and the city of Shenzhen, looks at the development trajectory of different cities around the world, to explore what inherent tendencies exist and what global and local mechanisms trigger the evolution of dynamics that also foster innovation and creativity. Additionally, it assesses whether this impacts on their cultural power.

Purpose

This virtual Expert Group Meeting on 27th September 2021 is at 10.00-12.30 New York time and 16.00-18.30 CEST and 17.00-19.30 Nairobi time.  It is organized to present the preliminary study findings of the project and involves a conversation with some key players in order to incorporate their ideas and inputs. The external experts and other participating stakeholders from different backgrounds can provide unique insights, thoughts and experiences. The deliberations will serve as input to the final report of UN-Habitat “Culture, Creativity and Urban Innovation” project.

Participants

The meeting will be convened and chaired by Knowledge Management and Innovation Branch of UN-Habitat Headquarters at Nairobi, Kenya. Attendance to the EGM is through zoom registration as following link. For more information, please contact: yi.zhang1@un.org

Registration at: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYtcO2grTgtHNAx-ejTNmN8RRgb5nhY77Lz