GCDN Annual Convening – Lugano 2022

The last two years have seen unprecedented changes in our experience of our cities and our understanding of our communities. Global outrage following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in the US has brought urgent issues of cultural and racial equity to the fore. The longer-term impacts of Covid 19 and growing pressure for bold action on climate change are challenging previously unquestionable concepts such as “downtown”, and patterns of behaviour and productivity across society, and driving new interest in mor localised lives centred around resurgent town centres and neighbourhoods.

What is the role of cultural districts and organisations in these big transitions? How do urban and cultural leaders rethink their models and approaches, and how can we build the capacity to keep rethinking, given endpoints can be far from clear? What unexpected opportunities have emerged?
In this session, we’ll gather a diverse set of urban practitioners to understand what practical approaches they are using to build resilience and innovation into their own work, and that of their organisations and networks, to support evolution.