The event brings together experts, researchers and representatives from many countries to share innovative urban development models, discuss the role of culture, heritage and design in placemaking, as well as expand regional cooperation towards a sustainable future for Asia.
In the 21st century, technology is developing at an unprecedented pace, leading to profound changes in the way people live, communicate and organize society - culture and creativity emerge as core resources shaping a sustainable future.
In Asia, which is witnessing the strong rise of young cities, dynamic markets and a potential creative class, the development story is not only about economic growth but also poses new requirements: preserving identity, narrowing the development gap, responding to climate change and moving towards a development model in harmony with communities and nature.
In the introductory report, the Organizing Committee stated that Asia is currently a large "laboratory" of development models based on culture and creativity. Rapid urbanization, social division or identity crisis in globalization pose big questions: How to develop without losing our roots? How to make creativity become the driving force of fairness and sustainability?
Experience shows that no country can solve these problems alone. A sustainable future requires common knowledge, shared models, and cross-border learning, from large, innovative cities to craft villages, eco-regions, and community cultural spaces that strive to preserve their identity in the flow of development.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network has demonstrated that when heritage and indigenous knowledge are connected with contemporary creativity, places, whether cities, towns or specialized cultural spaces, can transform themselves, creating new development attractions.
Dr. Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in her opening speech, emphasized the desire to find answers or suggestions from the lively discussions of experts in explaining the main issues.
Firstly, to develop the cultural industry and exploit cultural and creative resources, it is necessary to build a comprehensive and synchronous creative ecosystem with advanced and transparent institutions, giving incentives to creativity, ensuring creative freedom; associated with innovation in education, science and technology and digital transformation.
Second, developing local creative destinations is not about importing or copying, but must come from recognizing the unique values of the community, preserving and promoting those values in a contemporary context with new expressions. Do not trade heritage for short-term growth, but choose growth from identity, so that each locality becomes a unique, irreplaceable destination, becoming a competitive advantage for tourism development.
Third, Asia is only strong when it joins hands, connects creative capacity, shares experiences, and opens new cooperation models. Vietnam hopes that this forum will become an annual platform to gather leading prestigious speakers from the region and the world, to exchange experiences, open up new visions, recommend policies, and inspire new actions.
The Forum expresses the desire to jointly form an Asian creative network, with policy proposals and local pilot initiatives, first of all in creative cities where culture and creativity are at the heart of development, to jointly create a sustainable prosperous future.
Experts say Vietnam is entering a period of creative explosion. Many urban areas and heritage areas are proactively building cultural-creative ecosystems with a new vision: development based on identity.
Currently, there are four cities nationwide participating in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, each with its own strengths, from design and music to handicrafts and art media. Although the implementation methods are different, the cities all aim for a common goal: to build a sustainable development environment, to stimulate indigenous cultural resources, and to enhance the local position on the regional creative map.
At the same time, independent creative spaces, eco-tourism islands, indigenous communities and traditional craft villages are also participating more and more actively, creating a diverse, multi-layered and vibrant "Vietnam's creative map".
In that context, the Vietnam Institute of Culture, Arts, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the British Council in Vietnam organized the Asia Creative Forum 2025. Speakers from the UK, France, Korea, China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam... presented many useful opinions and experiences, reflecting the urgent need for a multi-stakeholder dialogue space among countries in the region.
The first session "Creating places from cultural and creative resources" focuses on the model of placemaking, developing creative ecosystems and the role of the community in the process of forming new living spaces. Main contents include: Integrating culture into urban planning; community initiative in space creation; promoting indigenous cultural values in the context of rapid urbanization.
The second session, themed "Cooperation for a sustainable future in Asia", highlighted innovative city models, the role of design-architecture-heritage, and new opportunities for cooperation among Asian cities.
The main content focuses on the following groups of issues: Urban design and creative architecture; combining art, heritage and tourism in sustainable development; models of international cooperation in culture and creativity.
In addition to academic exchanges, the forum also introduced videos about Vietnamese creative spaces and cities, the "Heritage Field" art program and traditional puppetry, giving delegates a vivid look at the vitality of Vietnamese culture in the flow of contemporary creativity.
The event was attended by a large number of central and local delegates; representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; departments of culture, sports and tourism; international organizations; universities; research institutes; experts, creative businesses; investors; creative tourism destination management boards; and representatives of press and media agencies. The level of interest shows the growing need for cooperation between all levels of the creative ecosystem, from policy, research, education to art practice and creative economy.
The Asia Creativity Forum 2025 is a strategic step in the effort to turn culture and creativity into new development drivers for Vietnam and the region. In the context of rapid change in Asia, the connection between international knowledge and local values becomes increasingly important.
As countries share experiences, experiment with new models, and act together for the common good, culture and creativity become expressions of identity and core resources for Asia to move into a sustainable, equitable, and humane future.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/kien-tao-tuong-lai-ben-vung-tu-nguon-luc-van-hoa-va-sang-tao-post926480.html
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