Creative Cities from Within: Bureaucracy for Latin America’s Creative Economy

Latin America’s cultural and creative industries are a powerful source of employment, identity, innovation and urban development. Yet many cities where this potential is most visible still lack the public capacity, institutional tools and policy frameworks needed to support it. In this keynote, Trinidad Zaldívar — former Head of the IDB’s Creativity and Culture Unit and one of the leading architects of the creative economy agenda in Latin America — makes the case for the creative bureaucrat as a key actor in city development. Drawing on a decade of regional policy dialogues, public funding studies and on-the-ground work with mayors, ministries and cultural entrepreneurs, she shares what has worked, what remains stuck, and what Berlin can learn from — and offer to — Latin American cities. Hosted by UNIT, the session asks whether creative bureaucracy can become the missing link between creative industries, public capacity and urban development in Latin America.