In June 2006, Montreal was officially designated a UNESCO City of Design, joining the Creative Cities Network established by UNESCO in 2004.

Creative industries are at the core of efforts to sustain cultural diversity. By building this network of cities that have creativity in common, UNESCO therefore seeks to facilitate and promote exchanges of best practices and know-how among them and, as a result, help spur their development via international networking.

To date, the Network consists of 27 member cities in seven centres of creativity: MEDIA ARTS (Lyon, France); CRAFT & FOLK ART (Aswan, Egypt; Icheon, China; Kanazawa, Japan; Santa Fe, U.S.A.); FILM (Bradford, UK; Sidney, Australia); DESIGN (Berlin, Germany; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Graz, Austria; Kobe, Japan; Montréal, Canada; Nagoya, Japan; Saint-Étienne, France; Seoul, South Korea; Shenzhen, China; Shangai, China); GASTRONOMY (Chengdu, China; Östersund, Sweden; Popayan, Colombia); LITERATURE (Dublin, Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; Iowa City, U.S.A.; Melbourne, Australia); and MUSIC (Bologna, Italy; Seville, Spain; Glasgow, Scotland; Ghent, Belgium).

In granting Montréal the title City of Design, UNESCO has acknowledged the city’s creativen potential in the design disciplines, based on the strong concentration of talent here as well as the commitment and determination of the Ville de Montréal, other levels of government and civil society to build on those strengths for the purpose of enhancing Montrealers’ quality of life.

The UNESCO designation is neither a label nor a form of recognition. It is an invitation to develop Montréal around its creative forces in design. Montréal, UNESCO City of Design is thus a collective project that, to become a reality over time, demands that all stakeholders – elected officials, citizens, experts, entrepreneurs and designers – buy into it and make it their own.

For more information visit: www.mtlunescodesign.com