This research aims to provide an overview of the cultural-creative industries (CCI) in the Medina of Tunis and to understand pathways for socioeconomic development in the historic quarters. While the cultural heritage efforts, the history of craft and folk-art, and the function of souks in the Medina have been documented by scholars, little scholarly work has been carried out to analyse the link between socioeconomic development and the CCI in the city, despite the efforts of local civil society organisations. This work aims to provide an analysis of local socioeconomic challenges with a focus on labour and gender, to understand the relationship between the cultural-creative economy and the socioeconomic dynamics in the Medina, through a mixed-methods approach. Further, this research aims to add to the knowledge on economic development and creative industry development in a heritage context and specifically in countries in the Middle East and North Africa. While the majority of creative economy discourse is focused on the global North, this research aims to explore potential pathways for a heritage-led creative economy approach to economic activation through a comparative case study of other craft and folk-art heritage cities in the MENA region to inform pathways for change in the Medina. Finally, the notion of value is integral to bridging the gap between cultural heritage and economics. This research aims to map out the forms of value the cultural-creative economy can generate multiple and cross-disciplinary forms of value to contribute towards the work in measuring value in the Medina.