WORKSHOP

Culture as Powerful Fuel for Building a Sustainable City

31 July - 4 August, 2023                            Jeju-do, Republic of Korea

This announcement is for those who are interested in the workshop on culture and urban development and would like to join our workshop virtually for extensive networking and knowledge sharing. Please read carefully and register as soon as possible to be a part of this exciting experience.

Culture: What Makes Cities Sustainable

As cities around the world are under rapid urbanization, it’s been said that the stable, inclusive, and resilient urban development is important for the prosperity of the people living therein. This is why the international community brought sustainable cities and communities to the forefront of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development in 2015(SDG11). Then, how can we enable cities to be inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable?

Culture is who we are and what shapes our identity, and as a result, forming a vital part of the daily life and development potential of every aspect. For this reason, the international community has been valuing culture as one important motivation for environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and economic development.

The UNESCO report published in 2016 entitled, “Culture Urban Future: Global Report on Culture for Sustainable Urban Development” implies the potential of culture for sustainable and inclusive urban development. According to the report, the solution to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable lies in culture. Culture can play a pivotal role in addressing challenges rapidly urbanizing world faces – reducing poverty, fighting social disruption, providing decent housing, and creating the climate-resilient urban environment for all. In other words, people drive the transformation of urban settings and it is culture that can galvanize people into action for promoting sustainable urban development.

The United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) also adopted Culture 21: Agenda 21 for Culture in 2004 and has made significant efforts to ensure that culture is either explicitly or implicitly integrated into a wide range of urban development projects in different cities, as well as the development programs of the United Nations. Additionally, the UN-endorsed 2016 New Urban Agenda acknowledges that “culture and cultural diversity are sources of enrichment for humankind and provide an important contribution to the sustainable development of cities, human settlements and citizens, empowering them to play an active and unique role in development initiatives.” One widely held view is that culture itself is described as an essential part of building citizenship for people of all ages and cities where people with different background live together are often envisioned as main places for cultural production and consumption. This allows us to ponder on how culture can make a difference to an urban future.

In this light, this workshop will serve as a platform to bring together participants from the field of culture and urban development to explore the synergies that the convergence of the two areas could bring in the Asia-Pacific context. Moreover, it will attempt to link the role of culture to achieving inclusive urban development.The program will also be organized based on three main thematic reflections on the role of culture mentioned in the UNESCO’s Global Report on Culture for Sustainable Urban Development: People, Environment, and Policies. To be precise, the workshop will explore what roles culture can play in building people-centered and inclusive cities, in enhancing the quality of the built and natural environment in urban settings, and finally in integrating culture in urban policymaking to promote sustainable urban development. Also, the workshop will offer some on-site lectures delivered by local experts based in Jeju and help the participants get a glimpse of how Jeju has allowed culture to create sustainable cities based on each thematic approach.

Event objectives

The workshop aims to build the capacity of participants on cultural policy and urban development, whilst promoting awareness and recognition on the importance of culture in achieving UN SDGs. For capacity building, this event will;

• Provide an opportunity for the local governments in the Asia-Pacific region to exchange policies and best practices on cultural policy for sustainable urban development through city-to-city cooperation;
• Provide an opportunity to see how Jeju has been engaged in promoting culture for building a sustainable city and to learn Korea’s cases in practice to create a cultural city;
• Promote a learning atmosphere between cities and establish a strong network which can be utilized after the workshop;
• Offer a venue for knowledge sharing and discussion among participants and motivate them to design an action plan for implementing cultural policy in their home countries, with a particular focus on SDG 11.

Learning objectives

At the end of the workshop, the participants will be able to:

• Understand how culture enables sustainable urban development in line with the 2030 Agenda;
• Understand the need for integrating culture into urban policies;
• Share the best practices of the community/local government-driven cultural policy for sustainable urban development;
• Utilize the lessons learned from the good practices of cultural policy in their own context;
• Coordinate partnerships to effectively promote the benefits of culture with civil societies, governments, and local (Jeju) entrepreneurs.

Target audiences

Central/local authorities, representatives from NGOs, regional and community-based organizations, and other local actors, who are working in the field of culture and urban development within the Asia-Pacific region.

Methodology

The training will be comprised of:

• Lectures by invited experts
• On-site lectures by Jeju local actors (Korean to English – interpretation service to be provided)
• Self-assessment exercise and Group work/discussion using CityShare approach
• Field visit to touristic spots related to culture and urban development

※ Kindly note that online participants are allowed to listen to expert lectures only.

Registration Deadline

Please register by Thursday July 27, 2023 through the following link.

https://shorturl.at/ABDLR 

* Please note the following:

-    Online participants are only allowed to listen to expert lectures between July 27 and August 2, and NOT eligible for the certificate.