TOWARDS A CULTURE GOAL: WORLD CITIES CULTURE FORUM SUPPORTS UNESCO’S BRAGA MANIFESTO
Justine Simons OBE, Founder and Chair of World Cities Culture Forum, participated in the 16th UNESCO Creative Cities Annual Conference 2024 in Braga, Portugal, where UNESCO launched their landmark Manifesto.
The 16th annual conference of the UNESCO Creative Cities, held in Braga from 1-5 July 2024, saw the launch and endorsement of the UNESCO Creative Cities Braga Manifesto: A Culture Goal for Sustainable Development. The manifesto sets out a shared vision for culture to be a standalone Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in the post-2030 agenda and calls for the integration of culture across a broad range of policy areas, from climate action to AI.
World Cities Culture Forum Founder and Chair Justine Simons OBE attended the conference and participated in a high-level session on the value of a dedicated culture goal alongside Ricardo Rio, the Mayor of Braga; Ernesto Ottone Ramírez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture; Kazumi Ogawa from UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme); Jordi Pascual from United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG); and Lindsey Ricker from World Economic Forum (WEF).
The discussion focused on strategies to more effectively integrate culture into sustainable urban development, culminating in the endorsement of the Braga Manifesto and advocating for culture to be recognised as a UN Sustainable Development Goal post-2030.
Justine Simons highlighted how culture can uplift communities facing a diverse range of challenges, including economic, social and environmental issues, and set out the key reasons that a dedicated goal for culture can help sustain global development. Establishing culture as a human right and a powerful tool for common good, we believe we can harness its potential to create inclusive, vibrant, and sustainable communities.
Last October at the World Cities Culture Summit 2023 in São Paulo, World Cities Culture Forum launched its São Paulo Manifesto: A Goal for Culture signed by 21 cities. In signing the São Paulo Manifesto, cities advocated for leveraging culture as a golden thread that supports communities, improves health and education, reduces inequality, and drives both economic growth and peace and prosperity.
In line with UNESCO’s efforts to recognise culture as a standalone goal, World Cities Culture Forum fully supports the Braga Manifesto and agrees that, by enhancing international cooperation at city and local levels, we can transform people, place and planet.
We call on the United Nations’ Pact for the Future to recognise culture as powerful tool for common good.
Read the World Cities Culture Forum São Paulo Manifesto.
Read the UNESCO Braga Manifesto.
