Located in North-Central Mexico, Querétaro is a cultural city home to 878,931 inhabitants. Internationally twinned with 11 cities, Querétaro has become a centre of creative and economic development, as well as becoming a popular tourist destination, attracting more than 2 million tourists a year. Strategically located in the industrial core region of Mexico, the city is regarded as an innovation hub and creative ecosystem, hosting a number of leading automotive and aerospace manufacturers. Today, Querétaro is positioned as one of the most competitive cities at national level, generating 17,508 jobs in over 2,000 business units that contribute to 3.5% of its GDP; in turn becoming a favourable place for the creative sectors with more than 332 spaces for cultural activities and of which 23 specifically dedicated to design.
To showcase the city’s design industry, Querétaro hosts several events aimed at promoting design innovation, animation and digital art, as well as exploring, debating and questioning presupposed elements of design and architecture. Of these, DeHache is considered to be the most important graphic design event in Querétaro, attracting 19,000 national and international guests per year. As well as inviting international lecturers and specialist speakers to present, this event also encourages designers to innovate and develop their talent through collaboration and collective expression.
By way of supporting continued growth within the design sector, new initiatives, such as the Design District, strengthen the current innovation ecosystem and position the municipality as one of the five destinations for creators and creatives in the country. In addition to these, the Program for the Promotion of Productivity and Enhancement of Commercialization for Small Producers also links designers with local artisans, with the purpose of leveraging Querétaro's crafts industry by modernizing their creations and updating their business skills. The contribution to this sector is not limited to the promotion of economic development but is also regarded as an empowered group of citizens affecting the sustainable development of the city.
As a Creative City of Design, Querétaro envisages:
- creating a multi-sector organization that enables the articulation of the City and the Creative Cities Network, to position creativity as a strategic factor of sustainable development;
- promoting international collaboration in the designing and implementation of creative projects aimed at sustainable development for UCCN member cities;
- encouraging the autonomy within the local economy, particularly of vulnerable groups, using design-related methodologies, community participation and commercial exchanges within the UCCN; and
- contributing to finding solutions to climate change by devising means and measures using the city’s design potential.
