Gansu Revitalization and Innovation Project
News
Gansu, known as the 鈥済olden section鈥 of the ancient Silk Road, has rich and unique natural, cultural and historical resources. However, tourism remains concentrated in the big cities and does not contribute to reducing regional disparities. Protecting cultural diversity, safeguarding tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and enabling creativity are essential in enhancing Gansu鈥檚 economic development and sustainable development.
Gansu Province is making a strategic investment to enhance cultural- and nature-based sustainable tourism as a driver for local economic development and job creation. The Government requested the World Bank Group to supplement such investments through a US$180 million loan 鈥 Gansu Revitalization and Innovation Project (GRIP).
UNESCO, recognized for its global leadership, standard-setting role, expertise and comparative advantages in the field of culture, was invited by the World Bank to support this effort and provide technical advisory and capacity-building services. The uniqueness of Gansu requires a customized approach that UNESCO can offer to meet the dual goal of culture-based sustainable development and poverty reduction, finding a proper balance between safeguarding Gansu鈥檚 unique heritage and leveraging the great potential of culture and creativity for economic development.
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Capacity Building for Gansu
To support Gansu in unlocking the power of culture for sustainable urban development, city competitiveness, and social inclusion through fostering increased awareness on the role of culture as an enabler of sustainable development.
The First Gansu Dialogue, co-organized by UNESCO Beijing Office and Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, was held from 12 March to 21 March 2023. Under the theme of 鈥淐ities, Culture and Creativity鈥, the First Gansu Dialogue gathered more than 100 leaders, experts and a wide range of stakeholders from the government, academia, civil society, private sector and the local communities. The participants reached consensus on the important role of culture in achieving sustainable development, and renewed commitment to take actions to realize this important role.
Mapping Gansu鈥檚 Culture Domains
The Project cooperates with local and national experts to conduct an in-depth analysis of the multiple ways in which culture contributes to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development. This activity aims to generate an analysis bringing the available data together to highlight linkages and areas of intersection between culture and other policy areas, fostering a better understanding of the breadth of culture鈥檚 actions and their direct and indirect contribution to sustainable development.
Digital Solutions for Culture in Gansu
The COVID-19 global pandemic has impacted the entire creative value chain and considerably weakened the professional, social and economic status of creators and cultural professionals. Facing with this rapidly changing context, new technologies and digital solutions plays an important role in offering larger audience and markets for cultural and creative practitioners.
The Project aims to design new economic activities to link Gansu local cultural professionals and creators with new media platforms and business enterprises. To create new business models which not only embodies the traditional and creative cultural expressions, but also take the commercial value they may have into account.
Project Sites
The Project team visited Lanzhou Creative Culture Industrial Park during the First Gansu Dialogue field study. The local government renovated the industrial heritage site and turned it into the cultural prak. The Park integrated a variety of cultural facilities including art gallery, art hotel, cinema, co-working spacie. It also provided space for artists to work. The photo shows a studio by a wood carving artist.
The Project team investigated the Xuanquan Posthouse site together with the World Bank team. A meeting was held with local stakeholders to discuss the plan for an exhibition centre on the site.
Gansu has diverse traditional cultural practices. Shadow puppetry is one of Gansu's ICH elements, inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. The Project team watched the shadow puppetry performance during the visit to Hu's Ancient House (also Tianshui Folk Culture Museum) in Tianshui.
