The Unesco General Assembly was scheduled to take place in Santos, Brazil, from 13 to 15 July. Following the health crisis linked to covid19, the event could not take place in person this year. The UNESCO coordinators organized a virtual meeting over 3 days at the same time, a first for the network.
This event introduced the new UNESCO Creative Design Cities designated at the end of 2019 : Asahikawa (Japan); Baku (Azerbaijan), Bangkok (Thailand), Cebu (Philippines), Fortaleza (Brazil),Hanoi (Vietnam), Muharraq (Bahrain), Querétaro (Mexico), San José (Costa Rica).
It was also an opportunity to discuss the initiatives implemented during this covid period through each community, such as the design workshops at home, set up by the Cité du design during the confinement.
This meeting allowed a sharing of best practices and projects thanks to the 4 working groups that are communication, business development, education, and design policy.
This first virtual experience that was a real success will give rise to other sub-network meetings including one planned in October by Graz and Saint-Etienne.
