Resumo

Based on the recognized economic relevance in the field of Design, in 2019, the city of Fortaleza became a Creative City of Design, through the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). UCCN is a network that aims to promote cooperation with and among cities that recognize creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable development (SKOGLUND; LAVEN, 2019). In this way, joining the UCCN can allow the city of Fortaleza to share its best practices and develop partnerships with the government, the private sector, and the civil society.

Considering this context, how did the process of strategic formulation of this public policy, UNESCO Fortaleza Creative City of Design Project, take place? Considering this discussion about the influences of culture in the formulation of urban strategies-as-practice, this work aimed to understand how the strategic process occurred in the Fortaleza Creative City of Design Project for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).

For this study, the strategic making of the processes and practices that constituted the day-to-day organizational activities implemented at the UNESCO Fortaleza Creative City of Design Project was investigated through the theoretical perspective of Strategy-as-Practice (WHITTINGTON, 1996, 2006; JARZABKOWSKI; SPEE 2009; ). This study also presents concepts about strategizing, which for Jarzabkowski (2004) happens through a fluid interaction between actors and contexts, offers a conceptual theoretical basis for articulating the concept of co-creation practices (Vallaster & Von Wallpach, 2018).

To achieve the objective research, the qualitative methodology was adopted through the case study (Flyvbjerg, 2011). The case study focused on the strategic formulation phase of the UNESCO Fortaleza Creative City of Design Project, which is expected to be implemented between 2020 - 2022. For the collection of data, a documentary survey of research for which materials were collected in different institutional databases. . Nine In-depth interviews were also conducted with actors that developed the UNESCO Fortaleza Creative City of Design Project.

Among the results were presented the main practitioners that acted in the elaboration of the project in a creative way, characterizing the strategizing processes. In addition, the main strategies as culture-driven urban practices were evidenced.

This is paper is part of a broad research that intend to go deeper in the analysis of the data along with the chosen literature. Also, a limitation of this work was the difficulty, due to pandemic of COVID-19, for the field research through participant observations. The meetings of the actors involved in the UNESCO Fortaleza Creative City Project slowed down (even online), also slowing down the data gathering.

Jarzabkowski, P. (2004). Strategy as practice: recursiveness, adaptation, and practices-in-use. Organization Studies, v. 25, n. 4, p. 529-560. Jarzabkowski, P. & Spee, A. (2009). Strategy‐as‐practice: A review and future directions for the field. International Journal of Management Reviews, v. 11, n. 1, p. 69-95. Whittington, R. (1996). Strategy as practice. Long Range Planning, v. 29, n. 5, p. 731-735. Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, v. 27, n. 5, p. 613-634.