European Capital of Culture 2016 Effect

The European Capital of Culture is one of the European Union’s most important cultural programmes, its significance transcending a narrow understanding of the cultural sphere. The scheme has been one of the foremost mechanisms contributing to the urban revival of European cities and increasingly close integration in many areas of social and cultural activity. The ECOC 2016 competition (2007-2011), entered by 11 Polish cities, took place in an exceptionally favourable context. The ECOC 2016 competition in Poland served as an impetus for many changes to take place in the participant cities. These particularly applied to the sociocultural sphere, encompassing such issues as a city’s identity and social capital. Consequently, it became possible to create new urban narratives which also contributed to changes regarding the cities’ images. In some cases, this could even be described as a real revolution which was able to take place as a result of unprecedented social mobilisation.

Paweł Kubicki is a sociologist and works as an associate professor at the Institute of European Studies at the Jagiellonian University, Poland. His fields of interest are the sociology and anthropology of the city, European integration, nations and nationalisms in Central Europe.

Bożena Gierat-Bieroń is a political scientist and works as an associate professor at the Institute of European Studies at the Jagiellonian University, Poland. Her academic interests concentrated at cultural policies and European integration processes.

Joanna Orzechowska-Wacławska is a sociologist and economist. She works as an assistant professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of economics and sociology. Her current research focuses on the issues of national identity, contemporary nationalism and populism in Europe.