Do we hear the voices of local citizens when we arrange cultural megaprojects for them? A case of the European capitals of culture

Abstract

Culture-led urban regeneration projects can be an answer for tackling current depopulation challenges in specific regions due to aging and outward migration. Existing literature stresses the importance of citizen involvement in culture-led projects for successful urban regeneration. However, traditional top-down business approaches, including the dominance of external accountability, often limit our ability to hear local citizens' voices. Therefore, comprehensive reporting on practices of citizen participation may bring value to future culture-led regeneration projects. In this viewpoint paper, we investigate the case of the European Capitals of Culture and analyze their own evaluation reports understand to what extent and how citizen participation is described in evaluation reports of culture-led regeneration projects. We use an established framework to classify citizen participation by the degree of citizens' right to decide and exercise power in decision-making. We demonstrate that smaller cities that need urban regeneration tend to mobilize cultural initiatives as an arena for citizen engagement. Although we do not find evidence of citizen participation in larger ECoC cities, their participation is still essential for local value creation. We finalize our viewpoint with policy recommendations that can be relevant globally for initiatives that aim at urban regeneration.