The IX UCCN Annual Meeting took place in Kanazawa, Japan, from 25 to 28 May 2015. This highly successful event gathered over 150 representatives from 61 of the Network’s 69 member cities, including 17 Mayors and vice-Mayors.

The Meeting enabled the UCCN to:

• Integrate the Network’s new members, designated in December 2014.
• Strengthen the Network’s governance.
• Define the Network’s priorities for the coming year (see Conclusions of the Meeting).
• Reflect on the future development and strategic objectives of a growing and geographically balanced Network.
• Review the numerous initiatives undertaken by member cities to promote the contribution of creativity to sustainable urban development and establish the building blocks for developing cities’ actions aimed at achieving the Network’s objectives.
• Define, by consensus, the criteria for the selection of host cities for future Annual Meetings as well as the Membership Monitoring Guidelines.
• Establish working methods enabling member cities to contribute to the creation of the Global Report on Culture and Sustainable Urban Development, which will represent a key contribution to the Habitat-III Conference in Quito (Ecuador) in October 2016.

A highlight of the Meeting was the Mayors’ Round Table gathering 17 local authorities and enabling the sharing of diverse approaches and practical experiences from different regions around the world aimed at harnessing creativity for economic, social and environmental development and reinforcing support for the Network at the political level.

Previous UCCN Annual Meetings have been held in Paris (UNESCO HQ, 2008), Santa Fe (2008), Lyon (2009), Shenzhen (2010), Seoul (2011), Montreal (2012), Bologna (2013) and Chengdu (2014). The 2016 Annual Meeting will be held in Östersund, Sweden.

To learn more about the UCCN IX Annual Meeting please visit the official website below.