The World Urban Forum (WUF) was previously known and limited to those working in urban development and urbanism. Music had never been part of the conversation. But since WUF #9, held in Kuala Lumpur last February, that changed — music officially entered the discussion as part of sustainable urban development.
I was invited to represent Ambon City’s music city development program at a special session. Ambon had recently been designated a UNESCO Creative City of Music — the first in Indonesia — and the WUF session offered a chance to share that story with an international audience of urban planners and policymakers.
The audience was different from the usual music industry crowd. These were people who think about cities in terms of infrastructure, housing, mobility, and sustainability. Explaining why music matters in that context is both a challenge and an opportunity.
The core argument: music is not just culture. It is infrastructure for human connection, economic activity, and city identity. Cities that understand this and invest accordingly are building a competitive advantage that compounds over time.
The reception was genuinely enthusiastic. Several attendees approached afterward wanting to understand how Ambon had made the UNESCO case and what the process looked like. Music as urban policy is still a new idea in most of the world — which means the opportunity to lead is wide open.