The experience of UNESCO Creative Cities in the context of COVID-19: a case study of Brazilian cities

This paper aimed to follow the unfoldings of being labeled a UNESCO Creative City by studying the first two labeled ones in Brazil, Curitiba and Florianopólis. The objective was to comprehend the extension of the UNESCO label in promoting the chosen modality (in the case, design and gastronomy, respectively) and related sectors. Also, given the current global pandemic, the work goes on drawing the cities response to COVID-19, especially when it comes to the tourism enterprise strongly connected to the creative sector. For that, we use secondary data as well as primary data to deal with both cities case studies. Our secondary sources tackle labor market data and tourism flow contextualized to the two territories, exploring the UNESCO Creative Cities Network’s potential, achievements and challenges after the label granting, added up the pandemic setting.


INTRODUCTION
The concept of creative cities, first introduced in Landry's work in 1995Landry's work in (2009)), gave to the creative economy a central role in urban planning and development.Either because it can foster local development through culture-artistic sector and creativity, also including scientific-innovative production.Or because it may have the potential to regenerate "obsolete" and degraded spaces in large urban centers, improving the residents' quality of life, and attracting both qualified labor and tourism.
The brand of a creative city, essentially, should favor its residents, but it certainly offers an incentive to tourism activities.According to Richards (2018), tourist spots, cultural events, and attractions form local amenities that increase the attractiveness of a territory, making cultural tourism an important source of income and occupation.
On this account and in order to promote cultural exchange and sustainable development in urban areas, in 2004, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) created the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).This Network focuses on promoting collaboration between cities that have the creative economy 1 as an anchor for their development.The creative economy is responsible for handling three quarters of economic activity, as stated in UNESCO (2019).The UCCN considers the following modalities: Crafts and Folk Arts, Design, Cinema, Gastronomy, Literature, Digital Arts, and Music.Considering them all, in 2019, the Network had 246 cities credited with the label worldwide.
In Brazil, ten cities are part of the Network: Belém, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, and Paraty in the modality of gastronomy; Brasília, Fortaleza, and Curitiba in design; Salvador for music; and João Pessoa for handicrafts and folk arts.Florianópolis and Curitiba were the first to receive the label, in 2014.Florianópolis is a creative city in gastronomy and the islander environment highlighting seafood innovation as well cultural and ecological tourism.Curitiba is granted in design, category that has strengthen its urban development strategy by powering the local creative industries.Curitiba's architecture and urban planning are a highlight in the national scene and motivation for tourism.
The present paper proposes to track the unfolds of being labeled a UNESCO Creative City by observing the two first ones in Brazil.The aim is to comprehend to what extent the labeling process has contributed to the cities' urban practices and regional development strategies interconnected to the entitled modality and related sectors.More specifically, given the current global pandemic, this study also draws on the responses to COVID-19, mainly regarding the tourism enterprise.
Like most of the territories affected by the (beyond) health crisis, creative cities have suffered with the illness of their population, social distancing, and the ESPM-Rio, Diálogo com a Economia Criativa, Rio de Janeiro, v. 7, n. 19, p. 118-136, jan./abr.2022.sudden stop of several economic activities, which had led to the reduction of jobs and income.Within the scope of the economic sectors, the most impacted ones are those related to agglomerations such as tourism and cultural (re)production, both of which are highly associated with the Creative City label.For this reason, UNESCO launched an e-book called "UNESCO Creative Cities' response to COVID-19", which intends to assess and outline strategies to ease the harmful effects of  In this e-book, UCCN presents initiatives and solutions provided by 66 of the 246 creative cities.The book contains descriptions and images that reveal more the symbolic value of the brand than an evaluation of the perverse effects of the pandemic on the activities of the respective modality or mechanisms to mitigate the damages in the territory.In general, the report points out that the internet favored the migration of the creative and cultural sector to the virtual space, expanding and diversifying the audience, especially among young people.In addition, the sectors have contributed to the dissemination of information and protocols related to the COVID-19 confrontation.These outcomes, however, are not directly articulated by the Network, rather facilitated by the paradigm of digitization.Support for workers in the cultural-creative sector is reported in the document, but, again, it may come from assistance policies for the population as a whole, rather than being the result of pressure from the label managers.Anyhow, through the report, UCCN has promoted inter-municipal collaboration during the global pandemic.
In the Brazilian case, the situation has been worsened not only given the country's historical and structural inequalities, the complexity of high population and extensional territory, but also by the current negationist behavior of its main leaders.As the focus of this paper is the Creative City, our efforts, with regard to the pandemic, were restricted to analyzing measures and actions that have aimed to mitigate its effects in sectors related to the label and tourism.
For an essentially descriptive analysis, secondary and primary data are used to deal with case studies from both cities.Our secondary sources tackles labor market data and tourism flow, contextualized to the two territories, exploring the Network's potential, achievements, and challenges after the label granting added to the pandemic setting.For primary data, we conducted interviews with managers responsible for the label, attempting to identify the history of the labeling axis activity, types of products, interaction with economic segments related to other modalities, mainly tourism, promotion of innovation, integration with other cities in the UCCN, forms of financing, promotion of local artists, maintenance of cultural spaces, revitalization of public places observing the given modality, and orchestration of the label's governance.
The paper is organized into five sections, including this introduction.The following section brings a literature review on creative territories and tourism.In the third, the cities are contextualized within their experience as part of the UCCN.The fourth section describes the pre-and post-pandemic setting in terms of labor market on the designated category and related activities, as of tourism flow.Final considerations are posted to conclude our discussion.ESPM-Rio, Diálogo com a Economia Criativa, Rio de Janeiro, v. 7, n. 19, p. 118-136, jan./abr.2022.

BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW: CREATIVE TERRITORIES, TOURISM, AND THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC
The concept of creative cities has evolved in recent years.From different approaches, analyzing various territories and their potentials, scholars have been emphasizing the possibility and capacity of creative activities to generate income and wealth in urban areas through resignifying economic production and consumption as well as tourism.
According to Warren and Dinnie (2018), cities become an expression of people's mobility, flow and daily practices, in an image building process.Sofield, Guia and Specht (2017) further argues that the image is associated with a key element: the brand.In this sense, itineraries, events, and schedules are organized to ratify this brand to be marketed and commercialized, especially within tourists.Moreover, it is possible to relate the title of a creative city as an instrument that strengthens the city's brand, thus attracting tourists to the city (SOFIELD; GUIA; SPECHT, 2017).
In this context, culture has become an increasingly relevant matter.Cultural tourism, until the advent of the pandemic, was one of the fastest growing segments when considering the tourism sector as a whole.In the words of Richards andWilson (2006, p. 1209): Tourism and culture both play an important role in image creation processes, providing a major rationale for the aestheticization of landscapes (Morgan & Pritchard, 1998), as well as in shaping the environment to meet the needs of consumers.Indeed, the growth of cultural consumption (of art, food, fashion, music, tourism) and thendustryies that cater to it has fueled the 'symbolic economy' of cities and regions (Ray, 1998;Zukin, 1995).The image of a city or region becomes based both on physical assets, and a series of experiences built around those assets, generally extending to the 'living culture' and the atmosphere of places.
Being awarded an UNESCO Creative City brings duties and possibilities in order to maintain and develop the creative economy in the territory.The cities are encouraged to elaborate mutual relationships and cooperation for sharing knowledge, experiences, and opportunities.Rosi (2014) discusses the aspects of sharing experiences in the network and the advantages of branding the city through the label.There is a tendency to use the label for branding purposes in order to attract more investments and touristic flow.
Concerning this aspect, the cities are invited to collaborate with each other in order to develop the creative and touristic sector.This strategy enables an exchange of knowledge and development practices and experiences.Besides, the creative cities network can be used as an additional instrument to create touristic routes and marketing between the different national citizens.Thus, in addition to embracing the label for marketing purposes, the cities have the opportunity to use the network for different purposes (ROSI, 2014).
The UCCN label reinforces and can contribute to the cultural urban branding in multiple cities.The imagery and the brand of cities are worked and developed aiming to gain global competitiveness (JENSEN, 2007).The emergence of a creative ESPM-Rio, Diálogo com a Economia Criativa, Rio de Janeiro, v. 7, n. 19, p. 118-136, jan./abr.2022.class and activities and the role of culture and media amid society has increased significantly and, consequently, the cultural (city) branding can bring consistent results for investments and touristic attractiveness (JENSEN, 2007).
Aligned still with the relation between culture, urbanity, and tourism, Sasaki (2013) highlights that the conception of creative cities emerged in response to the formation of clusters of cultural and creative nature.This cultural-creative clustering is a result of the evident transition in the socioeconomic system and the ensuing need to formulate public policies which suit both the growth of these cultural-creative sectors and new urban formations.In the reconstruction or even construction of (new) urban spaces, tourism tends to contribute through new businesses, cultural effervescence, the reframing of public spaces as well as investment in adequate infrastructure for their enjoyment (KIM; BRAMWELL, 2019).No less importantly, improving the quality of life of city dwellers, notably to those seeking the title of creative cities.
However, measuring the benefits from the UNESCO Creative City label as also the cultural tourism has not been an easy task.The measurement of cultural and creative activities in cities serves different purposes following the stage of their life cycle.Most of the studies attempting to build indicators to measure the creative and cultural capacity of cities and their impact on local and regional development are based on Florida's (2002) three Ts (talent, technology, and tolerance).Many of such studies advance in including new variables which reflect the multidimensionality of creativity and development.Yet, directly or indirectly, the inspiration of Florida's work is noticeable.
Some authors have proposed to relate the label or the creative capacity of a territory to aspects of tourism, even though the latter is measured only by means of variables connected to the activity itself.Figueiredo et al. (2019) advance in the purpose of portraying the creative capacity in cities by including other dimensions.Using secondary data, they include variables of quality of basic education, proportion of people with higher education, proportion of employed in creative activities, proportion of national and international migrant residents, Human Development Index (HDI), urban mobility, passengers in air traffic per capita, proportion of creative companies, mass of wages in the creative economy, registered patents, number of museums and public expenditure in culture per capita.All variables endeavoring to represent the diverse dimensions discussed so far.
San Miguel and Herrero-Prieto (2020), in a study for countries in the European Union, work on demonstrating the place that creative and cultural industries have in the territory.Networks, in their modus operandi of cooperation, create synergies from the best use of economies of agglomeration by the creative classes, fostering local development.Therefore, considering the multidimensionality of both creativity and development, the authors build indicators for the creative potential of EU countries, accordingly to the dimensions: "talent", "openness and tolerance", "culture", "technology and innovation", "cultural and creative industries", and "livability".With the Principal Component Method (PCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), ESPM-Rio, Diálogo com a Economia Criativa, Rio de Janeiro, v. 7, n. 19, p. 118-136, jan./abr.2022.they present the inequality in the potential for creative development in the region, with different regional patterns and polarization between Central and Northern Europe, on the one hand, and the East and the South, on the other.Furthermore, they show that creativity is a new source of disparities on the continent.
Guimarães, Ribeiro e Machado (2021) focus on two European cities that, unlike previous studies, are already part of the UCCN, Glasgow and Barcelona.The authors identify the absence of information as a restriction on the analysis of impact of the UNESCO label.In a context of parsimony of indicators, using the dimensions "talent", "attractiveness and connectivity", and "cultural environment and creative entrepreneurship" proposed by Figueiredo et al. (2019), the conclusion is that Barcelona, compared to Glasgow, achieved better results after joining the Network, highlighting the improvement in human capital and employment in the creative sector (talent), international attractiveness, urban mobility and air traffic (attractiveness and connectivity), and in per capita public spending on culture (cultural environment and creative entrepreneurship).
Exceptionally for Guimarães, Ribeiro and Machado (2021), there was no intention of measuring the impact of the creative city label on the works cited in this literature review.Likewise, the sources are organized in secondary data, often not covering the purpose of addressing the creative city dimensions in a wide periodicity (decennial, for example).As well as the remaining inability of the used data to express the diverse, comprehensive and spontaneous character of the cultural and creative expressions in the urban space and its relation with tourism.
When it comes to the concept of networks, there is a need of information concerning the dimension of organizational capacity and articulation between actors which, in the case of creative cities, account for interinstitutional, intra-cities, and between creative cities relations, all playing a significant role in the networking processes (POWELL, 1990;COHENDET;GRANDADAM;SIMON, 2010;ROSI, 2014).Alongside, information for monitoring an indicator system would require the history of the label activity axis, types of products, interaction of economic segments related to the specific modality among others, e.g.: promotion of innovation and local artists, forms of financing, training, and encouragement for young artists, sharing of knowledge, deepening of local population identity, maintenance of cultural spaces, revitalization of public places, impacts on tourism activities, and challenges encountered before and during the designation process.Unquestionably, the nature of this information demands the organization of a specific primary database.
In the case of the UCCN, a system of indicators has not yet been organized.This practice would alleviate the fragmentation of the Network, improving not only communication strategies for image building and cities branding, but primarily creating assessment tools of specific and complementary policies linked to the development and success of the goals proposed for the labeling.This would also make possible to measure the direct and indirect effects of the label on other economic sectors, including tourism, as well as stronger cooperation between members.
Notably, such a system could have a relevant role to guide managers in atypical (and challenging) contexts as the COVID-19 outbreak.As pointed out in the introduction, due to lockdowns and/or social distance measures, activities related to the experiences embedded in agglomerations have suffered a significant impact on revenue/ income and job maintenance.Within the scope of the UCCN seven modalities (Crafts and Folk Arts, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music), the pandemic effects can be considered even harder for those who depend on events, as Crafts and Folk Arts, Gastronomy, and Music.However, the absence of organized and consolidated information does not allow this statement to be proven actual.Still, institutional literature came out trying to navigate how to address such an upheaval moment.
As this study aims to assess the setting within COVID-19 outbreak, delving into two Brazilian (creative) cities, the cases description covers primary and secondary information by interviewing managers and consulting data about the activity granted as complementary ones, like the case of tourism.As recognized in this brief literature review, the local and labeling context are of great applicability when attempting to comprehend the creative territories.Therefore, the two creative cities are described in the next section.

CONTEXTUALIZATION OF CREATIVE CITIES IN THEIR FIELDS SINCE INTEGRATION INTO THE UCCN
This section provides a brief description of the creative cities taken as case study: Curitiba and Florianópolis.The spotlight is on the UNESCO label management performance respectively in the field of design and gastronomy, as mentioned in the introduction.
Designated as a Creative City in Design by UNESCO in 2014, Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná, located in the south of Brazil, has a population of almost two million inhabitants.At first, according to the managers, the intention was to insert the city into a cooperation network.Subsequently, with the engagement of different groups, the label has stimulated exchange between the creative sectors and validation of public policies to promote the creative economy sector in the city.
During these years as a Creative City, Curitiba has hosted some important events for local and international creative communities.Among them, we highlight "Design and the New Cities", which took place in 2016, "Design for a Better World" and "Smart City Expo Curitiba", in 2018, which were attended by representatives of cities that are members of the Network as Helsinki, Puebla, Buenos Aires, and Brasília.Additionally, it was the first Brazilian city that hosted a HUB 20302 for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 .In 2014 and 2015, the "International Forum ESPM-Rio, Diálogo com a Economia Criativa, Rio de Janeiro, v. 7, n. 19, p. 118-136, jan./abr.2022.
Design Friendly Cities" took place in the city, with the presence of design experts from other Creative Cities, such as Shanghai and Cape Town.
According to the UCCN Monitoring Report, published in 2018, until then, the city had not hosted any annual meetings of the Network, nor had participated in other meetings due to financial restrictions.However, it has promoted bilateral meetings with Brasília, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Puebla, Creative Cities of Design, and Santos, Creative City of Cinema.Moreover, still in 2018, Curitiba presented its experience with urban design at the Brazilian Creative Industries Market (MicBR) and, invited by the Mexican embassy, represented Brazil with an exhibition on good practices and urban design in the 10 th edition of the "Friendly Cultures Fair".
In Figueiredo et al. (2019), among the 27 Brazilian capitals, Curitiba was in the fifth position in the "talent" dimension (proportion of the population with higher education; proportion of people in cultural and creative occupations; proficiency in basic education); and sixth in both "attractiveness and connectivity" (proportion of national and international migrant residents, HDI, proportion of urbanized roads, passengers in air traffic per capita), and "cultural and creative entrepreneurship environment" (proportion of creative companies, mass of wages in the creative economy, registered patents, number of museums and per capita public cultural expenditure).
Florianópolis is the case study in the category of gastronomy.Also located in the southern region of Brazil, Florianópolis is the capital of the state of Santa Catarina and has just over 500 thousand inhabitants.It is well known for tourism mainly for the beaches in its islands and mainland.The city, recognized as the Brazilian capital of quality of life, the best city in the country for entrepreneurship, and the capital of oyster, joined the UCCN in 2014.In Figueiredo et al. (2019), Florianópolis was the capital city with best results in the proposed indicator of creative potential, in the three dimensions, "talent", "attractiveness and connectivity", and "in cultural and creative entrepreneurship".
According to the FloripAmanhã Association, the entity that coordinates the label governance, Florianópolis has always been a spotlight, either for its beaches and natural beauty or gastronomy.Specialized magazines have long been distinguishing it as a tourist destination chosen by people from all over Brazil and increasingly from abroad.The option for Gastronomy seeks to enhance qualified tourism, considering: The participation of the entities that are part of the governance -representants of the governmental spheres, academia, and productive sector -are relevant to the program, as it is through them that they enhance the label's performance.Since joining the network, Florianópolis has also had an active participation in several international events, as well as promoting local actions focused on gastronomy.The city participated in international forums in Portugal, China, Poland, Turkey, and Norway, and nationally for instance, the Folia Gastronômica in Paraty, the International Creative Economy Fair in João Pessoa, and the first edition of MicBR, in São Paulo, which aimed to boost the internationalization of Brazilian cultural production and the exchange between countries, particularly within South America.
In 2019, representatives from Florianópolis joined the international forum in Macau, the "Gastronomic Made in Italy" Contest, in Parma (Italy), and, invited by the Jiangsu Province government, in the second edition of "China (Huai'an) International Food Expo".It has also participated in the UNESCO/Mazatlán International Meeting "Creativity and cultural tourism for sustainable development" in Mazatlán (Mexico), as well as other conferences related to the topic in Italy, Turkey, and China.Moreover, FloripAmanhã supports the Fenaostra intending to strengthen local gastronomy and culture.The 19 th edition of Fenaostra, in 2018, was attended by 72 thousand people and 180 thousand oysters were consumed in 10 days of the event.Florianópolis is responsible for the production of 90% of oysters in the country.
The description of actions taken by the two UNESCO Creative Cities in the two modalities suggests engagement of their label managers in the support and boosting the granted creative activity.Indeed, the focus is on promoting national and international events.This emphasis is probably due to the fact that Brazilian cities are still little known worldwide and invest in tourism as an important income source.

SITUATION OF CREATIVE CITIES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: LABOR MARKET AND TOURISM FLOW
This section mixes information given by the label managers4 from the two cities with socioeconomic information available about each in the pre-and post-pandemic outbreak.As secondary data sources have a different nature and methodological structure, they serve to situate the difficulties arising due to the COVID-19 rather than to properly measure its impacts.
In the questionnaire to the managers, one of the main issues addressed was the situation of the project before the pandemic, focusing on 2019 as a milestone.It was asked: "Until December 2019, what has been accomplished within the scope of the project?(If possible, briefly list the actions taken).Were all these results foreseen in the application portfolio?What went beyond?And what was not possible to do and why?".
In the case of Curitiba, the manager answered that 2019 was a milestone for the label governance, since a municipal decree was enacted formalizing the shared management between public, private, and educational institutions.This has allowed for an exchange and construction of synergies in actions related to stimulate the accreditation.In 2020, a mapping was carried out to add up to the formulation of a policy to promote the city within its creative economy.After March 2020, when the pandemic started in Brazil, actions were taken to raise awareness of the disease and prevention forms.To illustrate, a task force of designers has created, produced, and delivered supplies to the health sector.The design community produced protective masks in a coordinated manner, distributing them to health facilities around the city.
As design functions transversally, taking part in diverse economic sectors, the effects of the pandemic were differentiated according to the impact of social isolation in the final delivery of its production.In a way, the data on occupation show that the differentiated effect did not alter the sector's participation in job creation during the pandemic in Curitiba.According to the IBGE 5 National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios -PNAD), since the designation of the label, there has been an expansion in the sector.In 2019, participation had increased to 0.9% with 8,751 workers.In 2020, the number of employed persons has, though, decreased to 8,464, but the participation in the total employment remained stable (0.9%).Although the results of informality6 indicate a rising from 2014 to 2020, there is a reduction in the informality rate from 15.6 to 9.3% from 2019 to 2020.This might indicate that the self-employed and unregistered workers were the ones most affected, while those with ties to companies, especially in remote work or in establishments, maintained their positions (Table 1).
Related to the income of workers in the design sector, there have been no major changes over the years.In 2014 and 2020, the sector's share of the wage mass (over the total wage mass of employed workers) remains approximately the same.These results again might indicate a better sectorial response to the impacts of the COVID-19 effects.
On the other hand, in the tourism sector, the results were not so positive.The sector participation of workers in total economy had a slight reduction in 2020 compared to 2014 (0.4 to 0.3%), but it represented an absolute drop of approximately 30% of workers (4,039 to 2,976).Informality increased considerably (8.6 to 17.4%) and the only positive result was the gain in participation of the sector's wage mass (1.3 to 1.8).
Concerning the tourism flow, data from the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil -ANAC) show a decrease in the number of passengers that arrive at the Curitiba Airport in 2020.In 2014, the number of passengers that arrived at the airport was 3,668,662, of which about 2% were international flights (70,292).It should be noted that this was an atypical year for tourism in some cities in Brazil, Curitiba included, since the country hosted the FIFA World Cup, tending to increase the statistics for passengers.In 2015, this flow was of 3,617,253 with 1.9% of international flights (69,549); in 2019, 3,275,390 passengers, with less than 1% of international flights (38,410); and in 2020 this number was 1,287,807 with 0.6% of international flights (8,282).Figure 1 brings the numbers trajectory.Brazil is an extensive country with different airports distributed throughout the territory.The flight paths, usually, comprehends scales in different cities.A passenger who comes to Curitiba from another country may, at first, disembark at another Brazilian airport and then fly to Curitiba.In this sense, the data presented here does not precisely reflect the total amount of international passengers that arrive in the city.It reflects only those who arrive from a direct flight.Figure 2 shows the data disaggregated between domestic and international flights from 2012 to 2020.
The number of enterprises related to tourism activity in Curitiba is presented in     Informações Sociais -RAIS) in 2012 there were slightly less than one thousand business units acting.At 2014 (the year of the FIFA World Cup) this number increased to 1,014 units.After 2014, a consistent decrease was noticed in the tourism enterprises present in the city.
Florianópolis and its creative sector had some different trajectories from Curitiba in relation to the brand and the pandemic.As the manager states: The first four years of the program's implementation were a lot of learning, searching for and building partnerships with different segments and cities in the Network and we realized that the areas of tourism, literature, architecture, design, and handicrafts have been enabling growth step by step, impacting the development, in particular, of vulnerable communities with an effective action based on the 2030 Agenda, which is a commitment of UNESCO (GESTOR DA CIDADE DE CURITIBA, 2021).
However, in 2020, the extent of the impact of the pandemic is significant, heavily damaging the gastronomic sector.About 93% of restaurants and bars were severely affected, some have closed, and others went bankrupt.For the manager: "The sector should take two to three years to recover, so expectations are not encouraging" (GESTOR DA CIDADE DE CURITIBA, 2021).
Actions to deal with the harmful conditions encompasses: campaign to collect food and personal hygiene items; fundraising campaign and purchase of tests for COVID-19; construction of the Floripa Sustentável, a socioeconomic recovery plan; organization of lives with other Brazilian and international cities to exchange good practices in coping with COVID-19 within the Gastronomy production chain; participation in international lives promoted by UNESCO with a focus on the impacts of COVID-19; and construction of a manual of good practices for home deliveries.When analyzing the data on occupation in Florianópolis, in 2014, the gastronomic sector in the city had 10,189 workers (Continuous PNAD), which represented 4.3% of the employed population.In 2020, there was a sharp drop in these numbers, with the employed population over 3.3% (7,546 workers).In other words, apparently the impact of the pandemic in the sector was quite significant, reaching a level of participation lower than that of 2014.As for to the sector's informality rate, in 2014 it was 7.5%, rising to 31.2%, in 2020, even higher than 2019.Unlike Curitiba, the crisis generated by COVID-19 increased the participation of precarious work in gastronomy.The damaging impacts of the pandemic can also be seen in the income of the segment workers.In 2014, the share of wage mass was 2.4% but in 2020, it dropped to a level of participation less than 2014, with only 1.7% (Table 2).
In Florianópolis, the tourism sector had a 0.5% share in 2014 with 1,285 workers.In 2020, the sector maintained its participation even with the slight increase of workers in absolute numbers to 1,364.In regard to informality, the sector went from practically none in 2014 to 14% in 2020.Again, unlike Curitiba, the negative impacts in this sector can also be seen in workers' earnings.The share of wage mass went from 1.4% in 2014 to only 0.7% in 2020, half of the participation observed in 2014.
Concerning the tourism flow in the city, the ANAC data shows a negative impact on the number of passengers arriving at the Florianopolis airport.In 2014, 5,426,987 people arrived by plane, circa 2.5% came from international flights (134,662); in 2015 this number was 5,445,373 with 2.7% from international flights (146,161); in 2019, 5,192,644 passengers in total with an increase in the international flight participation reaching 3.3% (171,286 passengers).In 2020, the numbers as expected were significantly lower, with 2,198,296 total passengers and almost 4% from international flights (84,181).Figure 4 shows the number trajectory.
The international flights statistics was presenting a positive trajectory since 2015, but the pandemic significantly reduce this number, as shown in Figure 5.The city was experiencing a greater international tourist flow in the pre-pandemic period.As stated before, Florianópolis is known for its natural attractions, the famous beaches, so this number is not only specifically related to the creative economy, gastronomy or cultural activities.Figure 6 presents the total number of enterprises related to tourism activity in Florianópolis.According to RAIS (BRASIL, 2021), in 2012 there were less than 650 business units related to tourism.In 2014, this number reached 706 units.The post-2014 trajectory is different from Curitiba, presenting a more stable tendency with a decrease in 2019.It is worth mentioning that Florianópolis was not a hosting city in the FIFA World Cup, therefore the distinct trajectory.
Inevitably, the pandemic has affected all sectors and people worldwide and in the two analyzed cities it was no different.In the case of the label, gastronomy was deeper impacted due to the activity characteristics involving agglomeration of local     people as well as tourism.In a context of national inefficiency and incoordination of preventive policies for COVID-19, it is noteworthy the concern of the label management institutions in both cities to act in order to support initiatives within health and to vulnerable workers during the global shakeout.Outstandingly, Curitiba and Florianópolis have embraced digitalization to continue the sectors activities through the virtual environment, not only with events, but also promoting inter-and intrasectorial relationship and exchanges.Responsible bodies produced videos in both cities, although none of them have been directly connected to the modalities of the label, Design in Curitiba nor gastronomy in Florianópolis.Efforts have been made to provide a touristic experience by showing monuments, museums, and artistic collections.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The objective of the article was to learn about practices and responses from two Brazilian creative cities, understanding the management of the UNESCO label and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in their territories, especially in the (co) related creative sectors.Both cities have suffered significant impacts in socioeconomic terms when analyzing the labor market of the creative category of reference (Gastronomy and Design).In the matters of tourism, there was an expressive reduction of jobs in Curitiba, accompanied by an increase of informality and participation in the mass wage, suggesting that either workers who are employed receive more or other economic sectors have had deeper reduction in remuneration.As to Florianópolis, the reduction regarding post-pandemic jobs was infamous, however the reduction in wage mass participation and an increased informality configures a more precarious working nature.It is important to emphasize that the informality    in the cultural, creative, and touristic sector increased in both cities.This directly causes significant losses in social rights and work benefits such as social protection and retirement grantees.
The economic challenges as well as the form of management and governance of actions and measures to mitigate the pandemic impacts have been unsatisfactory nationally, which has faced hardships in the beginning of 2021 with records in the numbers of deaths and cases.In this context, the creative sectors became a little helpless in terms of recovery and protective practices specific to the sector, which in its turn also present more concerns with safety and health of the Brazilian society, collaborating with policies to alleviate the effects in the country as a whole.It is noteworthy that an analysis of the granting process (from application to be nominated an UNESCO Creative City) could be pursued, but, as presented in the literature review, there is a great obstacle of actually keeping the track of the extend of the label's impact into a territorial context due to a lack of coordination of information, efforts and, surely, a multi-complex ecosystem.In this sense, this paper draws attention to the need of coordinating the creative practices vis-à-vis regional and urban development.
As the case might be, although not having the historical path of the label process and effects regarding the studied cases, the momentum pointed out to certain difference between the responses and impacts of the pandemic between the two different sectors that characterized the cities.Florianópolis, City of Gastronomy, has emphasized more the effects of restrictions and social distancing in their activities, evident in the indicators of social character and employment.In a way, this fact was already expected, since gastronomic activity involves crowds and shared consumption of food, a behavior that was completely discouraged by international health institutions.In contrast, the design sector in Curitiba proved to be less affected than the city's tourism, once it is not necessarily impacted by social distancing and, on the contrary, the number shows increasing number of workers in design in 2020.
Curitiba and Florianópolis, by integrating the UCCN, have joined a worldwide platform that promotes dialogue between the private and public spheres, as well as the third sector about the centrality of creative and cultural activities in the urban space.The main focus of the Network is the creation and strengthening of institutional relations between different cities fostering experiences exchange, shared contributions, and collaboration.Such initiatives are even more required at challenging times when various segments within the culture sector must reinvent themselves.Yet, there has not been an organization nor systematization of a database which can contribute to policies formulation and researches covering the monitoring of the label positive effects in the granted cities nor the upheaval of the pandemic.Thus, this study advances in highlighting that there is an already solidified structure of creative cities, ready to boost their socioeconomic features.Hence, or future agenda, advancing in reflecting on this organizational gap of information can contribute to the comprehension and improvement of creative territories within its multidimensionality in diverse cultural settings.
Figure 3.According to the Social Information Annual Relation (Relação Annual de Source: ANAC (2021).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Domestic and International Flights to Curitiba Airport, monthly.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Domestic and International Flights to Curitiba Airport, monthly.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Domestic and International Flights to Florianópolis Airport, monthly.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Domestic and International Flights to Florianópolis Airport,
Yu and Sun (2019, p. 258)report the experience of Macau as a Creative City of Gastronomy through Instagram, reflecting that gastronomic tourism is not only about food, but a combination of experience, culture, and landscape.Gastronomic tourism in Florianópolis combines all these characteristics.The label governance is shared with a Strategic and a Group.The Strategic Group is responsible for defining the Program's guidelines, ensuring shared governance with the FloripAmanhã Association, the Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC), the National Commercial Learning Service of Santa Catarina (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial de Santa Catarina -SENAC-SC), SEBRAE-SC, and Florianópolis City Hall through the Municipal Secretariat for Tourism, Technology, and Economic Development.As to the Tactical Group, its responsibility is the construction and execution of the projects.Adding to the entities of the Strategic Group is the Union of Hotels, Restaurants, Bars, and Similars of Florianópolis (Sindicato de Hotéis, Restaurantes, Bares e Similares de Florianópolis -SHRBS), ABRASEL-SC, Faculdade Estácio de Florianópolis (ESTÁCIO), Arts Center of the State University of Santa Catarina (Centro de Artes da Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina -CEART-UDESC), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina ( UFSC), Federation of Commerce of the State of Santa Catarina (Federação do Comércio de Bens, Serviços e Turismo de Santa Catarina -FECOMÉRCIO-SC), Social Service of Commerce of Santa Catarina (Serviço Social do Comércio de Santa Catarina -SESC-SC), Florianópolis and Region Convention & Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Shopkeepers of Florianópolis (Câmara de Dirigentes Lojistas de Florianópolis -CDL Florianópolis).

Table 1 .
Labor market indicators for Design and Tourism sectors,Curitiba, 2014 and 2020  (third quarter).

Table 2 .
Labor market indicators for Gastronomy and Tourism sectors, Florianópolis, 2014 and 2020.