The European Capitals of Culture (ECOC) initiative, launched in 1985, has been awarded to more than 60 cities across the European Union and beyond. Over the decades, the ECOC label has evolved into a powerful catalyst for territorial transformation, fostering cultural dynamism, strengthening international cooperation, encouraging public participation, and enhancing quality of life for residents. Beyond the cultural dimension, ECOC increasingly serves as a strategic instrument for long-term urban and regional development.

ECOC programmes frequently extend beyond the administrative boundaries of the host city, actively involving surrounding towns and regions in cultural activities and governance arrangements. This reflects the functional and socio-economic interconnections between cities and their wider territories, helping to strengthen regional cultural ecosystems and amplify the social, economic and territorial impacts of the initiative. In many cases, these spill-over effects contribute to the creation of lasting social capital, stimulate new forms of collaboration, reinforce existing partnerships, and support the revitalisation of regional networks and institutions.

Against this background, the project aims to generate territorial evidence on the long-term development impacts of ECOC initiatives on host cities and their surrounding regions. The analysis will explore how culture-led development initiatives can contribute to broader territorial development objectives and how governance arrangements can support sustainable regional transformation.

More specifically, the project will:

• identify territorial governance structures and governance practices that effectively leverage ECOC for wider territorial development;
• assess the long-term economic, social and infrastructural impacts of ECOC initiatives through the lens of these governance models.
• support European Commission’s ambition to examine wider territorial benefits of ECOC (First interim evaluation of the European Capitals of Culture Action 2020-2033).

The geographical focus of the project will include Veszprém, Hungary (ECOC 2023), Guimarães, Portugal (ECOC 2012), Bad Ischl, Austria (ECOC 2024), and Bodø, Norway (ECOC 2024).

Policy questions

The study is addressing the following questions:

• How does the development of the cultural sector - through an ECOC project - affect the development (socioeconomic, cultural, economic, and social) of the wider region beyond the ECOC host city? How these development processes are related to an ad-hoc territorial governance structures which have emerged due to ECOC?
• How cultural activities related to ECOC could be coordinated with wider economic and social policies to enhance territorial development and competitiveness of the host city and their surrounding areas?
• How ad-hoc territorial governance systems around ECOC could overcome traditional administrative boundaries and contribute to territorial cohesion in non-standard geographies?
• How do the alliances and established cooperations in relation to ECOC (in the different cities and regions) work in the long term; which territorial governance structures are sustainable and which are not? What are the specificities of these territorial governance systems?
• How could a newly created public good via ECOC – a brand, a reputation and a package of activities built on the culture of the host city and surrounding areas – be sustainably delivered through a newly established territorial governance system?

Expected results

The project shall deliver new territorial evidence:

• Analysis of territorial governance mechanisms and their role in delivering ECOC and inducing territorial socioeconomic impact on host city and surrounding territories (identified and assessed spill overs).
• Analysis detailing the cultural, economic, and social impacts of major cultural events on the regions, providing a clear picture of the positive and negative outcomes.
• Stock-taking of available data at the respective territorial scales.
• A set of indicators to measure territorial development trends in terms of ECOC impacts.
• Policy recommendations on how territorial development policies and spatial planning practices can incorporate ECOC generated territorial outcomes (in terms of governance and development planning).

Stakeholders

The municipality of Veszprém (Hungary) is the lead stakeholder in this targeted analysis and the Municipality of Guimarães (Portugal), Otelo eGen (Austria) and Bodø2024 IKS (Norway) are participating stakeholders.

More information

Contractor: Hétfa Research Institute (HU)

Joint Partners: ÖIR, Austrian Institute for Spatial Planning (AT), Nordregio (SE), Inforelais (AT), Centre for Research in Anthropology CRIA (PT)

Contact: Zintis Hermansons (Research and Policy Manager), Caroline Clause (Budget and Financial Manager)