Here you go, Bangkok and Sukhothai!
The two Thai locales were designated by UNESCO on Wednesday as new creative cities for excellence in two areas: Bangkok for design and Sukhothai for crafts and folk art.
“All over the world, these cities, each in its way, make culture the pillar, not an accessory, of their strategy,” Director-General Azoulay said Wednesday while announcing the 66 cities around the globe. “This favors political and social innovation and is particularly important for the young generations.”
The so-called creative cities are divided into seven categories — gastronomy, literature, film, music, crafts & folk art, media arts and design.
Only four cities got the nod in Southeast Asia: Bangkok, Sukhothai, Philippines’ Cebu City (for design) and Indonesia’s Ambon (for music).
The 66 cities were added to the Creative Cities Network, which now has 246 cities.
UNESCO Creative Cities Network was launched in 2004 to identify cities where creativity is a “strategic factor for sustainable urban development,” according to the organization.
“The 180 cities which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level,” it says.
