Challenges of Creative and Sustainable Cities in Chile

Abstract

The relationship between culture, creativity and sustainable development has been placed on the agenda of institutions that promote human development and sustainability at an international level, such as The United Nations Program for the Environment, Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. Therefore, it is worth investigating how this approach is being implemented in the development strategies of cities in Chile. First, this article presents the result of the review of national development policies in the field of culture, the environment and urban development, to identify how it is approached the relationship between culture and sustainable urban development. In the second place, it presents case studies of cities that have implemented culture and creativity in their local development strategies, with positive results in some of the four variables of sustainable development: culture, social development, environment and economic development. In conclusion, it can be identified that although the link between culture and sustainability is beginning to be present in the guiding instruments of public policies for the development of cities, this is not an approach incorporated in most of them, contrasting with the importance of the link between culture and sustainable development in the practice of civil society organizations and municipalities.