Awareness & Location
Graz as a UNESCO City of Design
Graz is a UNESCO City of Design and part of a global network that links the global creative scene. Last year, the capital of the State of Styria celebrated its 10th anniversary as a UNESCO City of Design. Since becoming a UNESCO City of Design, Graz has increasingly participated in numerous events, conferences, calls and competitions, establishing itself as a popular design hotspot. At the same time, membership in the UNESCO City of Design network facilitated knowledge transfer with other UNESCO Creative Cities and opened up new markets. Creative Industries Styria is responsible for networking and subsequently communicating invitations to participate in calls and competitions from the UNESCO Cities of Design and other UNESCO Creative Cities. Cooperation has increased as a result. Creative Industries Styria’s tasks include content
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management for the joint website of UNESCO Cities of Design, designcities. net, and creation of a monitoring report for Graz as a UNESCO City of Design. For the period from 2016 to 2020, the monitoring report was compiled in cooperation with the City of Design Coordination Office of the city of Graz. One of the transnational projects of the UNESCO Cities of Design is “Auto Fiction – Mobility of the Future”. As one of the Cities of Design with a thriving automotive industry, Graz was represented with numerous contributions. In 2021, 49 new cities were added to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The network has grown to include 295 cities, 43 of which are UNESCO Cities of Design – the newest members here being Covilhã in Portugal, Doha in Qatar and Whanganui in New Zealand.
