Mumbai, Hyd new UCCN members; Surat among smart cities of UNESCO

New Delhi: UNESCO announced Mumbai and Hyderabad as the new add-ons in its network of 'Creative Cities' on the occasion of World Cities Day 2019. The Indian government has congratulated the new members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) from the country on Friday.

Mumbai has been designated as 'Creative City of Films' and Hyderabad a 'Creative City of Gastronomy', a communiqué mentioned by UNESCO on Wednesday. 65 new cities have been included across the world as the new UCCN members, which now number a total of 246. Bangkok, Kazan, Havana, Lahore is also among the new members.

Besides, in the present, other three cities are already UCCN members from India- Chennai (since 2017) and Varanasi (since 2015) are for music while Jaipur (since 2015) for crafts and folk arts.

There are seven categories for recognition under UNESCO's 'Creative Cities'- Design, Literature, Crafts and Folk Arts, Films, Gastronomy, Music and Media Arts.

By joining the UCCN, the cities pledge to share their best practices and develop partnerships involving public and private sectors as well as civil society to strengthen the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services. This project was launched in 2004 to promote cooperation among the cities which recognized creativity as a major factor in their urban development.

The network further aims to foster mutual international cooperation with and between member cities committed to investing in creativity as a driver for sustainable urban development, social inclusion and cultural vibrancy.