An international conference of cities with strong cultural assets and diversity adopted a declaration on Thursday in Seoul, calling for regular meetings and a common vision of “sustainable development based on creativity.”

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network Conference, hosted by the Seoul city government Nov. 16 and 17, highlighted worldwide cooperation for sustainable urban development and creative ideas to realize it.

In the Seoul Declaration, mayors of 41 cities around the world agreed to hold the meeting regularly, foster cooperation to promote diverse cultural products and seek creative solutions for sustainable urban development.

Seoul, designated UNESCO City of Design in 2010, plans to send volunteers overseas to help with UNESCO creative projects from next year and strengthen worldwide cooperation in doing it, officials said. 

In his opening speech, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said that an ordinary citizen’s creative idea can become a source of city development and that the key factors of a creative city are exchanges, trust and collective thinking.

The Creative Cities Network, launched in 2004, has provided its member cities with opportunities to exchange ideas to foster creative industries for sustainable development.

The next conference will be held in Montreal, Canada in 2012.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)