This article examines the role creative and cultural higher education plays in the top-down development of Astana -- the new capital of Kazakhstan. Drawing on a mapping of higher education institutions in Kazakhstan's old (Almaty) and new capital cities as well as qualitative interview data with creative and cultural practitioners, academics and policymakers, we explore the complex relationship between the development of higher education infrastructure and the broader development of the local creative and cultural ecosystem of the new capital. By exploring challenges and opportunities surrounding these developments within the new capital city, we draw some insight regarding the sustainable development of higher education and the creative and cultural ecosystem more broadly. We find that creative and cultural higher education plays an essential role in the development of the new capital city and its opportunity to lead as a creative and cultural capital. In turn, we argue that creative and cultural HE development cannot happen in isolation but needs to be planned and carried out as part of the more comprehensive creative and cultural ecosystem development, reinforcing the local creative and cultural economy and being shaped by it. It also needs to be seen as a long-term development strategy rather than a short-term solution to jump ahead in urban hierarchies. However, we warn that wider political influences may hinder the development of a genuinely independent creative and cultural higher education system.