European capital of culture after 2019
Why not change more?
- After decades, attractions of this scale require basic changes: Olympics, Formula One, Oscar, Eurovision, leading festivals etc. The EU froze the basic pattern till 2033.
- ECOC shows certain signs of fatigue. Attraction fades. Competitions inside countries usually attract little attention abroad.
- Few cities are able to maintain full momentum all year long, lacking the punch of shorter events. Twelve months exert extreme strain, offer too large a temptation for infrastructure investments with sustainability risks.
- Opportunity missed: shift to Spring Capital of Culture, Summer Capital of Culture etc. Two cities chosen after competition in the pre-selected countries, and two selected through regulated competition of all European cities.
- Opening up 28 titles for competition of cities across all Europe would create new excitement and challenge. (Regulation would prevent cities to win from the same country within a set period.)
- One capital of culture at any one time would offer more focused attention.
- The actual selection of cities reflects the composition of Member States, to disproportional disadvantage to cities in large countries.
- 56 cities could get the distinction along the 14 years instead of 28.
- For cities in the candidate countries a separate variant could be devised.
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A playful alternative |
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In blue: pre-selected country by the EU |
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In green: regulated open competition across Europe |
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In orange: city from a candidate country |
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Spring |
Summer |
Autumn |
Winter |
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Spring |
Summer |
Autumn |
Winter |
2020 |
Croatia + Ireland |
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Croatia |
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Ireland |
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candidate country |
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candidate |
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2021 |
Romania + Greece |
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Romania |
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Greece |
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2022 |
Lithuania + Luxembourg |
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Lithuania |
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Luxemb. |
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2023 |
Hungary + United Kingdom |
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Hungary |
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UK |
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candidate country |
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candidate |
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2024 |
Estonia + Austria |
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Estonia |
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Austria |
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2025 |
Slovenia + Germany |
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Slovenia |
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Germany |
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2026 |
Slovakia + Finland |
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Slovakia |
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Finland |
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candidate country |
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candidate |
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2027 |
Latvia + Portugal |
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Latvia |
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Portugal |
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2028 |
Czech Republic + France |
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Czech R. |
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France |
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2029 |
Poland + Sweden |
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Poland |
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Sweden |
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candidate country |
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candidate |
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2030 |
Cyprus + Belgium |
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Cyprus |
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Belgium |
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2031 |
Malta + Spain |
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Malta |
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Spain |
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2032 |
Bulgaria + Denmark |
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Bulgaria |
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Denmark |
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candidate country |
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candidate |
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2033 |
Netherlands + Italy |
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Netherl. |
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Italy |
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The Budapest Observatory, September 2012.