Kozhikode is now the 'City of Literature' and Gwalior the 'City of Music'.
On World Cities Day, Kozhikode in Kerala and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh became a part of the prestigious UNESCO Creative Cities Network, adding to the list of 55 new cities. The list was released by the UN body on Tuesday and Union minister G Kishan Reddy called it a "proud moment for India". He said these cities have strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity.
Kozhikode, the venue of choice for the Kerala Literature Festival and several book festivals, was named the 'City of Literature' by the Unesco Creative Cities Network (UCCN) on Tuesday, making it the first such city in India.
Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, was declared the "City of Music" by UNESCO. This is a fitting honor for the city that produced the legendary musician Tansen and where the Scindia Gharana has preserved and propagated music for centuries.
Gwalior's musical heritage is rich and diverse, encompassing classical Hindustani music, folk music, and devotional music. The city is also home to a number of prestigious music institutes and festivals.
A statement by UNESCO said the new cities were acknowledged for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity as part of their development strategies and displaying innovative practices in human-centered urban planning.
UNESCO has shared the full list of the new 55 cities, which include Bukhara (Crafts and Folk Art), Casablanca (Media Arts), Chongqing (Design), Kathmandu (Film), Rio de Janeiro (Literature), and Ulaanbaatar (Crafts and Folk Art).
World Cities Day, designated by the United Nations, falls on October 31.
With the latest additions, the UCCN now counts 350 cities in more than a hundred countries, representing seven creative fields: crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music, UNESCO said in its statement.
"The cities in our Creative Cities Network are leading the way when it comes to enhancing access to culture and galvanizing the power of creativity for urban resilience and development," Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, was quoted as saying in the statement.
An upcoming policy paper, "The added value of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network at local, national, and international levels," will testify to the leading role played by cities towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda while demonstrating ways in which UNESCO supports the UCCN members by fostering dialogue, peer-to-peer learning, and collaboration.
The newly designated Creative Cities are invited to participate in the 2024 UCCN Annual Conference (July 1-5, 2024) in Braga, Portugal, under the theme "Bringing Youth to the Table for the Next Decade,", the statement said.
(With inputs from PTI)