ICH Courier

Introduction
Culture and creative industries (CCIs), including intangible cultural heritage (ICH), represent one of the most important economic sectors for many cities and provinces–it is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy, with respect to income generation, job creation, and export earnings. Global exports of creative goods grew from approximately US$200 billion to US$500 billion between 2002-2015. In recent years, cultural and creative industries contributed about US$2.25 trillion in revenues (3 percent of global GDP) and created up to 13 percent of creative jobs in different cities.
This article provides guiding principles and a framework for policymakers to a) better leverage cultural and creative industries for sustainable development; and b) integrate them as a vehicle for local economic development, competitiveness, and social inclusion. The article examines how local governments can foster the enabling environment and channel the support through their core functions and roles. Through strategic interventions across these domains and collaboration with key stakeholders, local governments can implement measures to address the constraints impeding the development and growth of CCIs and leverage them as a critical driver of sustainable urban development. While the degree of decentralization of responsibilities, resources

and capacities of each local government may differ, global experiences illustrate that the common denominator is visionary leadership that puts in place the policies and catalyzes the enabling conditions to attract and nurture CCIs, coupled with the key creativity ingredients — local talent and the uniqueness of the place.
The World Bank and UNESCO published in 2022 a joint Position Paper entitled “Cities, Culture, Creativity: Leveraging Culture & Creativity for Sustainable Urban Development & Inclusive Growth” (CCC) , which included several global case studies . Artists, creative capital and intangible cultural heritage are at the heart of local and regional economic development. CCIs, including ICH, can be fostered and grow by adopting six enablers:
• Physical and spatial environment
• Human capital: skills and innovation
• Networks and support infrastructure
• Institutional and regulatory environment
• Uniqueness
• Digital technology

Cities, Culture and Creativity
Cities have historically been a fulcrum of creativity and innovation. They bring together people from diverse cultures

and backgrounds and foster the exchange of ideas and knowledge spill-overs. The agglomeration effect of urban areas enables creativity and innovation to flourish, which in turn translates into spatial, economic and social dividends for both cities and local communities. The joint Position Paper by the World Bank and UNESCO, “Cities Culture Creativity: Leveraging Culture and Creativity for Sustainable Urban Development and Inclusive Growth”, discusses the importance of the creative economy (also called the orange economy) in cities. It illustrates how cultural and creative industries (CCIs) — which encompass audio-visual and interactive media, literature and press, performing arts, visual arts and crafts, intangible cultural heritage, design and creative services, and heritage and tourism activities — are an important source of jobs and attract investors, skilled people and creative entrepreneurs. The fields of CCIs are shown in Figure 1.

CCIs play an essential role in regenerating the built environment into vibrant places and strengthening social cohesion and tolerance through inclusive and participatory means of expression, while also giving voices to and creating opportunities for marginalized groups and youth. Understanding the multifaceted potential and benefits of CCIs, the paper presents a framework for cities to leverage CCIs for sustainable urban development and city competitiveness (see Figure 2).
Harnessing CCIs’ potential and realizing their transformative impact requires an enabling environment and a functioning ecosystem, including partnerships with creative coalitions and stakeholders across the CCI value chain. These hinge on the effectiveness of local government’s regulatory and promotional role, as well as enabling interventions. Local governments are at the core of building inclusive and livable communities and have unique decision-making, financial and

convening power to leverage CCIs for city competitiveness and sustainable urban and socioeconomic development. This paper examines the different roles and capacities in which local governments can intervene to effectively enable CCIs to flourish. By reviewing lessons learned from cities around the world where CCIs have thrived and developed a competitive edge, this paper aims to develop an understanding of the roles and capacities that local governments have played in the process, including the domains where more government interventions made a difference (e.g., providing safety nets for creatives) and also where less government intervention proved helpful (e.g., less bureaucracy and red tape). In doing so, this paper aims to operationalize the framework for creative cities through concrete recommendations for local government action.
Unlocking the potential of CCIs requires an enabling environment that creates conducive conditions for creative talent and CCI activities to flourish at all stages, from idea incubation, research and development, production, all the way to distribution and consumption. Given the preponderance

have larger markets and demand for their activities, as well as a concentration of stakeholders along the CCI value chain, the role of local governments becomes crucial to help enable CCIs to flourish. The CCC paper presents a framework that identifies six domains, called enablers, which are critical for cultural and creative assets and resources — notably talent and intangible cultural heritage — to prosper and contribute to urban regeneration, social inclusion and economic competitiveness (Figure 2).
These enablers can be further descibed as follows:
1. Physical and spatial environment: City infrastructure and livability;
2. Human capital: Skills development and the environment to support innovation;
3. Networks and support infrastructure: Social networks, catalyzers, artist and enterprise support and finance;
4. Institutional and regulatory environment: Inclusive institutions, regulations and partnerships;
5. Uniqueness (Intellectual Property (IP) and Geographical Indication (GI)); and
6. Digital technology (e-commerce, e-banking, e-marketing, sharing economy)

The six enablers represent the sum of conditions needed for creative talent and CCIs to grow and strengthen their ecosystem. The extent to which local governments can contribute to each enabler will have a direct impact on reinforcing their potential contribution to the local economy, inclusion and urban regeneration. Yet, local governments’ ability to make a difference is subject to several conditions. Irrespective of the degree of decentralization of responsibilities, resources and their capacity, local governments have four core functions or roles through which they can channel support to CCIs, including ICH.
In operationalizing the framework, cities seeking to enhance the resilience of their ICH and CCIs and their impact on their neighborhoods, city competitiveness and communities

can do the following: a) Map their ICH and CCIs, b) Identify key constraints, c) Prioritize interventions to enhance the resilience of long-term contributions of their CCIs; d) Build and empower an effective coalition, and e) Prioritize catalyzing organic communities: creative communities are the heart of creative cities.
The integration of ICH, CCIs, and tourism produces triple gains: safeguarding tangible and intangible cultural heritage, expanding economic opportunity, and cultivating inclusive development. Policies that frame ICH and CCIs as interdependent systems linked through sustainable and responsible tourism are more likely to achieve sustainable development goals and positive socioeconomic outcomes. ICH