"The European Capitals of Culture and their Capacity to Change the Socioeconomic Profile of the Hosting Cities – the Cases of Guimarães and Košice"

Abstract

The European Capitals of Culture (ECOC) is the most ambitious cultural collaborative programme in Europe. During its first 15-year period (1985-2000), ECOC projects were hosted by several national capitals and principal cultural cities in Europe. In the second phase, the programme also began to discover smaller and less well-known cities of interest where results would be more visible and beyond one year. Given there has been such a long period of 33 years since the first designation of a European Capital of Culture, there is an opportunity to evaluate the whole programme as well as individual projects in terms of their regeneration impacts. The paper is focused on the ECOC legacy of two medium-sized cities Guimarães (ECOC in 2012, Portugal) and Košice (ECOC in 2013, Slovakia). The assessment of the ECOC impact of these two cities on tourism and urban development is based on the same methodology, giving the possibility of first-hand comparison and in-depth interpretation.

The cluster analysis of all European ECOC cities identifies clusters on the basis of their mutual similarity. Thereafter, several research questions are studied based on the interview research in the cities of Guimarães and Košice. Although the two cities aimed to take the hosting of the ECOC as a significant tailored point of their development, their legacies have revealed comparatively different in several dimensions. While Guimarães succeeded in enhancing its tourist attraction and visibility, but less in expanding the cultural dynamics, Košice is an example of culture-led development overcoming the provincial cultural offer on the East-European border. Both cities made it possible to achieve a positive impact corresponding to the initial project goals, but reaching somewhat different effects, evident at a distance of several years.

Keywords: European Capital of Culture; Mega-events Impacts; Cultural Legacy; Medium Sized Cities; Cities Socioeconomic Profile.

Oto Hudec, Technical University of Košice, Slovak Republic (Oto.Hudec@tuke.sk)

Paula Remoaldo, Lab2PT (Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory), University of Minho, Portugal (paularemoaldo@gmail.com)

Nataša Urbančíková, Technical University of Košice, Slovak Republic (natasa.urbancikova@tuke.sk)

J. Cadima Ribeiro, NIPE, University of Minho, Portugal (jcadima@eeg.uminho.pt)

[Resumo de comunicação apresentada no 58th ERSA Congress, subordinado genericamente ao tema ´Places for People: Innovative, Inclusive and Liveable Regions`, que decorreu na University College Cork, Cork, Irlanda, entre 28 e 21 de agosto de 2018]