UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which Philippine city will make the list?
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. To date 116 cities from 54 countries have made the list. Paris, Berlin, Turin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kobe, Nagoya, Singapore are just a few of the cities that have qualified to be part of this prestigious UCCN. Similar to its World Heritage Sites list, the UCCN applicants go through a rigorous process of application and accreditation which demonstrate their current as well as planned programs for supporting the development of creativity in their city.
According to UNESCO the Mission of the Creative Cities Network is to “develop international cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable development, in the framework of partnerships including the public and private sectors, professional organizations, communities, civil society, and cultural institutions in all regions of the world.”
As such, the UCCN isn’t just a list of isolated cities with outstanding creative programs. Indeed that is just the first step for qualification. The ultimate goal of the program is to link this network of cities to pool their resources together for a common objective of making creativity a strategic driver of sustainable economic and social development.
As per UNESCO “The Network is designed to facilitate the sharing of experience, knowledge and resources among the member cities as a means to promote the development of local creative industries and to foster worldwide cooperation for sustainable urban development.”
Because of this development mission, the UCCN goes well beyond honoring established creative cities in developed economies. Indeed a good number come from emerging economies such as Bandung in Indonesia, Phuket in Thailand, Duran in Ecuador, Montevideo in Uruguay and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A Creative World Map
Each of the Creative Cities in the UNESCO list have qualified because of their commitment to nurturing and developing one out of seven creative disciplines of Film, Craft & Folk Arts, Design, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music.
A quick visit to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network website will show you a World Map of all of the Creative Cities according to their respective accredited disciplines. While it is amazing to see many Creative Cities in Asia, it is both surprising and disappointing that no single city in the Philippines is present in the UCCN map.
Whenever I speak about the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, many are indeed surprised that the Philippines is not on the list as our country has six listings on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Cordillera Rice Terraces, Historic Town Center of Vigan, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, etc.). Some are even more surprised to learn about the cities in other developing countries both in Asia and outside, that have made it to this exclusive list. Places like Pekalongan in Indonesia, Nassau in the Bahamas, Bogota in Colombia and Dakar in Senegal have all managed to qualify to the UCCN.
Seeing this list of cities, one quickly realizes that the Philippines has every right to become part of this list. Philippine cities with flourishing creative & cultural industries such as Manila, Cebu, Baguio or Davao could conceivably qualify to be part of this list.
In my view, there are two reasons why no Philippine cities are not on this list:
Ignorance By ignorance, I mean both a lack of knowledge as well as a lack of attentiveness (“ignore” -ance). Our government simply isn’t paying attention to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network list as it is not recognizing Creativity as a driver of economic growth and social development. The main applicant for creative city accreditation needs to be the government, particularly local city government. The private sector cannot submit an application on behalf of the city government as the commitment of the public sector towards creative development is a critical criteria for accreditation. However, on a national level, there is no single government department responsible for a Creative Economy agenda (whether DTI, DEPED or NCCA). As there is no prioritization on a national level, we cannot expect local governments to drive Creativity as their priority, thus an opportunity is missed.
Insularism When interacting with the cultural and creative industries in the Philippines, I get the impression that most are not interested in learning, interacting or sharing with creative and cultural industries from overseas. Professional associations often focus on self-preservation and industry promotion agendas within the domestic markets only. Very few associations look to actively networking outside the Philippines and work towards becoming part of a Global creative community.
If we allow our Ignorance & Insularism to go unchecked, we will soon be in a situation where there are perhaps 20 to 30 Creative Cities in ASEAN and none from the Philippines. What this means is that the Philippines would miss out on economic incentives, tourism potential, and development learning that being part of such a network would bring.
A colleague of mine said recently, prioritizing the Creative Economy isn’t just a “Nice to have” for the Philippines. In fact it is very dangerous for the Philippines to continue to ignore a Creative Economy agenda as Creativity is and will continue to be the Growth Driver of the World economies in the next 10 years. This is the reason why other countries are fighting for recognition of their respective creative cities in the hopes of becoming key players in a Creative Economy Global Marketplace.
As a Nation, we have always been a few (if not many) steps behind our Asian neighbors when it comes to agricultural, industrial & tech industries. We are now gaining some strength in the Service industries through our OFWs and BPOs. But by over-emphasizing low value chain service, we run the risk of missing out on the higher value intellectual property output that creative and innovation sectors can provide.
By working on gaining recognition for our own creative cities, we will put our country on the world map of creativity and earn our rightful place among the world’s most creative countries.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paolo Mercado is a business professional convinced in the value generating power of creativity for private businesses as well as local and national governments. This column explores and investigates how others have successfully turned creativity into economic value for themselves and their community. He is a marketing professional, raised in a family of advertisers and writers, with a passion for teaching and an obsession for the performing arts.
Illustration by Alberto Cinco Jr.
This article was first published in the September-October 2016 issue of adobo magazine.
