March 2014: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the City of Shenzhen, China, promoted successful examples of urban design for environmental and cultural sustainability at a Creative Cities Summit in Paris, France.

The event, which took place from 3-4 March 2014, brought together city planners, architects and private sector representatives to consider the theme ‘Creative Design for Sustainable Development’, which presented the experiences of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in creating environmentally-friendly urban growth.

They discussed: innovation and conservation for sustainable urban living; the role of cultural and creative industries in sustainable cities; creative technologies and infrastructure for water, sanitation and food security; and innovative transportation systems. Presentations included case studies from Saint- Etienne, France, and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Hans d’Orville, UNESCO, highlighted opportunities to proactively create the shape of future cities, noting that 60 per cent of the urban space that will be needed by 2030 remains to be built. He urged cities to place culture at the heart of their policies and programs as the international community works towards the post-2015 development agenda.

UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network aims to promote international cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a factor in sustainable development. The Network bestows recognition of selected cities as ‘creative hubs’ that promote socio-economic and cultural development through creative industries, and ‘socio-cultural clusters’ connecting socio-culturally diverse communities to create a healthy urban environment. [Meeting Webpage] [Agenda] [Creative Cities Network Webpage] [Hans d’Orville Remarks]