The Creative Cities conference in Prague, which was co-organised by The Open Society and ProCulture, brought together urban innovators, artists, politicians, representatives of non-governmental organisations, and students from twelve countries to explore the potential of creativity and creative industries and their role in the bidding process for the European Capital of Culture.

We considered the role of creativity in city development, and cultural infrastructure in driving innovation and growth in a creative cities' economy. But can we put all that into practice, mobilise city assets and nurture the informal creative network of city economies?

A visit to Pilsen showed us how they are coping with these issues in their bid for the European Capital of Culture 2015. The presentation of the bid and the tour stimulated an interesting discussion, which provided useful input on the issue. Most of the participants agreed that this otherwise excellent bid should include more social, ethnic, and age groups, and scale down the proposed projects to achieve the intended effect.

The Warsaw seminar dealt with general questions of creativity and creative cities; the Prague conference explored the themes in more detail and focused on the specific aspects of creativity and creative cities, and their role in the bidding process for the European Capitals of Culture.

Check out the Creative Cities conference website to find out more about the issues discussed.