At the Tiradentes Creative Week, experts explained how UNESCO's Creative Cities Network transforms culture and creativity into development strategies for territories
Submitted at Oct 29, 2026, 4:00 PM
(Divulgação/CASACOR)
Created to bring together municipalities that place culture and creativity at the heart of their development strategies, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network brings together more than 400 cities around the world. However, being part of it means more than receiving international recognition. It involves taking on commitments, creating public policies, and strengthening those who produce culture in the territories.
Isabel de Paula, coordenadora de Cultura da UNESCO no Brasil, e Marcelo Barros, coordenador da Rede Brasileira de Cidades Criativas da UNESCO (Allison Ferrarezi/CASACOR)
The topic was on the agenda during the 10th Tiradentes Creative Week, which in 2026 had UNESCO as a partner for the first time. The conversation brought together Isabel de Paula, Culture Coordinator of UNESCO in Brazil, and Marcelo Barros, coordinator of the Brazilian Network of UNESCO Creative Cities, to explain how this articulation works and what it can represent for Brazilian cities.
Although Tiradentes does not officially belong to the network, Isabel drew attention to the city's relationship with its principles. "It is a pulsating creative territory, where you can see in practice all the principles and the execution of activities that can characterize a creative city," she stated.
Brasília (DF) é considerada Cidade Criativa do Design (ckturistando/CASACOR)
Created in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network connects municipalities that recognize culture and creativity as part of their development. The participating cities are distributed across areas such as music, crafts and folk arts, gastronomy, literature, design, architecture, media arts, and film.
However, joining the network does not just mean receiving a seal. Each city presents a development plan linked to its creative field and must demonstrate, over time, that the planned actions are being put into practice.
"It is not receiving an endorsement or an award, meaning you are now better than others," Isabel explained. The recognition brings responsibilities, including creating a more favorable projects for artists and culture professionals and expanding opportunities for work and income.
São Paulo – Cidade Criativa do Cinema (João Tzanno /CASACOR)
Marcelo broadens this discussion by talking about creative territories, which can go beyond the boundaries of a single municipality. These are places connected by heritage, knowledge, production chains, and a shared cultural vocation.
In Paraíba, for example, there is the Cachaça Creative Territory, which brings together different cities linked to the production and culture surrounding the beverage. The example shows that a creative identity can also emerge from the relationships between municipalities and communities.
Isabel de Paula, coordenadora de Cultura da UNESCO no Brasil, e Marcelo Barros, coordenador da Rede Brasileira de Cidades Criativas da UNESCO (Allison Ferrarezi/CASACOR)
In Brazil, 15 cities recognized by UNESCO are part of the network. In gastronomy are Belém, Florianópolis, Paraty, and Belo Horizonte. Brasília, Curitiba, and Fortaleza represent design. João Pessoa belongs to the crafts and folk arts category, while Salvador and Recife are part of the music area. In film are Santos, Penedo, and São Paulo. Rio de Janeiro represents literature and Campina Grande, media arts.
According to Marcelo, the work carried out by these cities also reaches dozens of other municipalities through projects, production chains, and initiatives related to cultural heritage.
Estátua de Carlos Drummond de Andrade, em Copacabana, no Rio de Janeiro (RJ), cidade reconhecida pela UNESCO como Cidade Criativa da Literatura. (Divulgação/CASACOR)
The Brazilian Network of Creative Cities promotes in-person gatherings and periodic meetings so that experiences developed in one territory can be shared with others. The idea is to identify projects that work locally and assess how they can be adapted to other realities.
"There is only one way to do it. Working as a network," said Marcelo. This involves bringing together public authorities, universities, researchers, business owners, entrepreneurs, associations and cultural workers around common goals.
For Isabel, the Brazilian experience has an important characteristic. The national articulation goes beyond UNESCO's formal obligations and also brings together municipalities that are not yet part of the international network but already develop or are beginning to structure initiatives linked to the creative economy.
Salvador (BA) – Cidade Criativa da Música ( José Maldonado/CASACOR)
For UNESCO, a Creative City only makes sense when the population takes part in this development. This involves strengthening those who produce culture, creating economic opportunities and ensuring that projects also reach regions with less access to cultural facilities and initiatives.
"There is no creative city without people being at the center of this development," said Isabel. Artists, artisans and other cultural workers need to find the conditions to develop their work and remain in these territories.
The results can appear in job and income generation, in the appreciation of local knowledge and also in areas that seem distant from cultural policy.
João Pessoa (PA) é a Cidade Criativa do Artesanato e da Arte Popular (Rany Lops/CASACOR)
In Paraíba, the Poesia do Cuidado project uses cordel literature, music, games and stories linked to ancestry to support SUS primary care professionals in monitoring children and adolescents undergoing long-term treatments.
For Marcelo, initiatives like this show that culture and creativity can respond to concrete problems. "This is culture in the veins," he said when explaining how the project brings together cultural repertoire, technology and public health.
Isabel de Paula, coordenadora de Cultura da UNESCO no Brasil (Allison Ferrarezi/CASACOR)
In the view presented by Isabel, culture does not play a secondary role in the development of a city. It drives economic chains, strengthens identities, creates opportunities and takes part in the way a community thinks about its own future.
"Culture, in the case of creative cities, is not secondary to development. On the contrary, it enables development," she said.
This view is also related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Although culture does not currently have an exclusive goal within the 2030 Agenda, Isabel emphasized that it cuts across different areas and can contribute to tackling social and environmental issues.
"Culture does help fight poverty. Culture does support new habits in relation to the environment," said Isabel. For her, the theme also connects different times of a society. "Culture is a link that unites us, unites our ancestors, our current life and the future planet."
Curitiba (PR) – Cidade Criativa do Design (Marcelo Harassen do Ó/CASACOR)
For Marcelo, a city interested in joining the network should not turn international recognition into a race for the UNESCO seal. The work done until reaching a consistent candidacy can be as important as the result.
“Recognition by UNESCO is the icing on the cake, but the best part is not that. It's the path you take to get there,” he stated.
Belo Horizonte – Cidade Criativa da Gastronomia (Jonathan Borba/CASACOR)
This journey involves recognizing one's own cultural vocation, mobilizing people, organizing projects, strengthening governance, and creating conditions for the heritage to remain alive.
In the end, being a creative city begins before any international recognition. It lies in the way a territory values what it already produces, supports the people who keep its culture alive, and transforms creativity into opportunities for those who live there.
