After nearly two decades of effort, the City of Lowell received notice early this week that it’s been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a Learning City, the first in the United States of America.
The designation was the focal point of a November 12, 2025 Daily Pulse podcast featuring former Lowell Mayor Bill Samaras and UMass Lowell Professor Emeritus John Wooding, who spoke about the history behind the effort, the process, and what it could mean for the Mill City. (click here to listen to that discussion)
Bill Samaras (left) and John Wooding (right) during their November 12 Daily Pulse Podcast appearance.
“This achievement is the culmination of a long process that united a number of community partners to pull this off,” Samaras tells InsideLowell. “I’m very proud to be a resident of this city because we have so many entities that contribute to further learning, and we’ve been a Gateway City that has always taken advantage of educational opportunities. This branding as a Learning City will go a long way toward the rest of the world recognizing everything we have done to educate our community.”
The designation comes on the heels of Lowell also being recognized as the first Frontrunner City in the United States by the Urban Economy Forum earlier this year.
There are now 425 Learning Cities throughout the world and only two Frontrunner Cities besides Lowell, Richmond Hill in Canada and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
One response to “Lowell Becomes the USA’s First Learning City”
As I travel about my hometown, I remain unimpressed with any appreciable progress or development subsequent to Tsongas, Kennedy, and the Urban National Park. Central Street is a particularly blighted area. Perhaps these recent accolades and recognition provide funding initiatives to replace these and other areas with more attractive, socially responsive urban resources.