A Study on UNESCO Creative cities : Focus on European capital of culture and KOBE
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Lee Seungkwon , Noh Jinza 
Published: June 2018

A country’s competitiveness hinges upon its cities’ competitiveness. Up until the emergence of the Industrial Revolution, cities have managed to preserve their quintessential characteristics ; however, with the industrialization process, the cities’ development has been drawn by a capitalistic logic. Through the combined pressure of demographic growth and technological innovations, cities have required capital to pave the way for their development. Due to the fact that the weight of history and traditions has been outshined by the urge for capital, public policies have come to the fore as a means of harnessing and managing the cities’ latest evolutions. While the rise and fall of cities is inevitable, we must avoid the destruction of the cultural heritage inherent to our cities. A city revitalization means selecting its most valued, representative cultural items and adapting them to a modern urban environment. Through the creative city designation, the UNESCO has contributed to foster the renovation and the sustainable development of cities. The UNESCO launched the Creative Cities Network programme in order to protect their cultural ressources. In South Korea, there are also cities affiliated to the UNESCO creative cities’ network or applying to obtain such a label. For instance, Busan for its film festival and Gwangju, which is currently building an Asian cultural hub based on arts and media to boost the creative industries’ potential not only in Gwangju but also in the Jeollado province. Both cities will soon become affiliated to the UNESCO creative cities’ network. But what are the actual reasons why so many countries strive to receive the honorific UNESCO creative city label? And what kinds of cities are seeking this recognition by the UNESCO?The UNESCO’s creative cities programme originated in the European cultural capitals, which have strengthened the links among themselves thanks to cultural exchanges and activities. This model has spread to Arab and American cities before reaching the shores of Asia. The present author has been searching for successful illustrations of cities preparing for the UNESCO affiliation as creative city in the Far East as well as cultural capital in Europe. For the purpose of this article, the RUHR-GEBIET region is examined as a cultural capital in Europe while Kobe -which was named UNESCO city of design in 2008- is analyzed as a creative city. I will consider how Japanese cities, which have similar urbanization processes with ours, have been selected as creative cities and how they manage them. As regards the UNESCO creative cities network program, it is very much similar to the policies of cultural capitals in the European Union, which aims at bringing together politics and economics through culture. The designation of the Ruhr-Gebiet region as a European cultural capital in 2010 epitomizes this theory. The line of thoughts pursued by the author is that the success of the RUHR region can be followed as a model for Gwangju and Jeollado since they have similar roots. Although recently Gwangju and its surrounding regions have undergone an administrative separation ; culturally speaking, they still share a common heritage and idiosyncrasy whose symbolic backbone is the Yeongsan river. Gwangju being located at the center of the Jeollado, it can work as the driving force of the creative industries’ field for the surrounding regions. Indeed, Gwangju is currently managing the East Asia Cultural City programme while preparing for the cultural hub for Asia and applying at the UNESCO for joining the Creative Cities Network. The present author do not share the view that the three above mentioned projects will only benefit Gwangju, but on the contrary, they will also contribute to the growth of the surrounding regions.