On the 27th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, together with the Regional Culture Promotion Agency, will hold the "2026 Culture City International Conference" at Yongsan Dragon City under the theme "The Era of Wide-Area Cooperation and Sustainable Culture Cities."
This event has been organized to explore ways for culture cities to build cooperative systems that go beyond individual cities and to achieve sustainable growth. In particular, as the government is pursuing a balanced growth strategy focused on five regions and three special self-governing provinces, more than 200 participants, including domestic and international experts and culture city officials from across the country, will discuss the future direction of culture cities.
Guy Saez, honorary member of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a world-renowned scholar in cultural policy studies, will deliver the keynote speech. Under the theme "Resilient Governance for Culture Cities," Professor Guy Saez is expected to present key tasks for ensuring that culture can maintain autonomy while building solidarity with local communities and achieving sustainable growth.
The first session will discuss cooperation strategies and leading cases of major culture cities overseas. Laia Gasch, Director of the World Cities Culture Forum (WCCF), in which more than 45 cities across 6 continents participate, will share cases in which cities have responded to social and economic challenges such as community recovery and climate change through inter-city solidarity. Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director who led Bradford, selected as the UK City of Culture for 2025, will present the process and implementation strategies through which the region cooperated via culture and attracted urban regeneration and investment.
The second session will examine practical tasks to enhance the self-sustainability of culture cities. Kim Yeonjin, Head of the Cultural Arts Value Dissemination Research Office at the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, will propose the current status and mid- to long-term development directions of culture cities in Korea. Kim Mira, Director of the Culture City Division at the Cheongju Cultural Foundation in Cheongju, which is a first-phase culture city, and Lee Ucheol, Culture City Planning Manager in the Culture City Division of Suyeong District Office in Busan Metropolitan City, designated as a Culture City of Korea, will present their experiences and achievements in building sustainable cultural ecosystems in their local communities. In the final comprehensive discussion, Senior Research Fellow Kim Gyuwon of the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute will serve as moderator to review the policy implications and future tasks together with the previous speakers.
Based on the outcomes of these discussions, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to devise multifaceted support measures so that public-private cooperation systems for local culture within cities can take root stably, and solidarity among culture cities can function as a key driving force for balanced growth and help them secure self-sustainability.
Jeong Hyangmi, Director General for Culture and Arts Policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "This event is a meaningful occasion to jointly consider strategies for culture cities to lead the co-growth of regions within the broader trend of wide-area cooperation," adding, "We hope it will serve as an opportunity to share experiences among cities and expand the possibilities for solidarity."
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