ΠΡΟΣ MIA ΡΙΖΟΣΠΑΣΤΙΚΗ ΠΟΑΙΤΙΣΜΙΚΗ ATZENTA ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΕΣ ΠΟΛΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΦΕΡΕΙΕΣ ΠΑΡΟΣ 1999

TOWARDS A RADICAL CULTURAL AGENDA FOR EUROPEAN CITIES AND REGIONS PAROS 1999

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ΤΟΜΕΑΣ Π0ΛΕ0Δ0Μ1ΑΣ KA1 ΧΩΡΟΤΑΞΙΑΣ, ΕΜΠ ΤΟΜΕΑΣ ΠΟΛΕΟΔΟΜΙΑΣ, ΧΩΡΟΤΑΞΙΑΣ KAI ΠΕΡΙΦΕΡΕΙΑΚΗΣ ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΗΣ, ΑΠΘ ΕΡΓΑΣΤΗΡΙΟ ΓΕΩΓΡΑΦΙΑΣ, ΧΑΡΟΚΟΠΕΙΟ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ TMHMA ΓΕΩΓΡΑΦΙΑΣ, ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟΥ

ΑΘΗΝΑ - ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ 2000

DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING, NTUA DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING, AUTH LABORATORY OF GEOGRAPHY, HAROKOPIO UNIVERSITY, ATHENS DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF THE AEGEAN

ATHENS - THESSALONIKI 2000

TOWARDS A RADICAL CULTURAL AGENDA FOR EUROPEAN CITIES AND REGIONS. Paros 1999 (DO. 23-58)

European cities of culture: Impacts in economy, culture and theory LOIS LABRIANIDIS, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki ALEX DEFFNER, University of Thessaly ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚ.ΕΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΤΙΚΕΣ ΠΡΩΤΕΥΟΥΣΕΣ: ΕΠΙΠΤΩΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ OIKONOMIA, TON ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟ KAITH ΘΕΩΡΙΑ 0 θεσμός της Πολιτιστικής Πρωτεύουσας της Ευρώπης υπήρξε το σημαντικότερο μέτρο άμεσης δράσης της ΕΕ στον τομέα του πολιτισμού, με μια τριπλή διάσταση: πολιτιστική, οικονομική και πολιτική. Δηλώνει τη σπουδαιότητα του πολιτισμού στη διαδικασία της ευροΗΐαϊκής ενοποίησης, τη σημασία των πολιτιστικών δραστηριοτήτων στην αστική και οικονομική αναβίωση και τη σπουδαιότητα των αντιπαραθέσεων γύρω από το ζήτημα του ποιος πολιτισμός προωθείται και για ποιους. Εντοπίζουμε τέσσερα σημαντικά και αλληλοσχετιζόμενα ζητήματα: α) ποιος τύπος κολιτισμού προάγεται, υψηλός (ελιτίστικος) ή χαμηλός (λαϊκός), β) ποια χαρακτηριστικά τονίζονται, τα σχετικά με τις τοπικές ή τα σχετικά με τις διεθνείς συνδέσεις, γ) ποιοι τύποι δραστηριοτήτων προωθούνται, αυτοί που σχετίζονται με την παραγωγή ή αυτοί που σχετίζονται με την κατανάλωση και δ) κατά πόσο τα ενδιαφέρονται των κατοίκων έρχονται σε δεύτερη μοίρα ως προς τα ενδιαφέροντα των τουριστών. Οι «Πολιτιστικές Πρωτεύουσες» εξετάζονται ως τύποι πόλεων, με βάση τη διάκριση ανάμεσα σε παραγωγή (οικονομικοί καν πολιτιστικοί πόροι, καλλιτεχνικά και τεχνικά προγράμματα) και κατανάλωση (γνωρίσματα του κοινού, διαφοροποιήσεις, αξιολόγηση και ανταπόκριση). Στην εξέταση συνυπολογίζεται επίσης η απογραφή της ΕΕ για τους πόρους too πολιτιστικού τουρισμού και για τον παράγοντα της πολιτιστχιαίς κληρονομιάς. Η εξεταση ειικεντρώνεται στην εμπειρία της Θεσσαλονίκης, αλλά γίνονται συνεχείς αναφορές και σε άλλες περιπτώσεις, όπως η Αθήνα, το Άμστερνταμ, το Βερολίνο, το Παρίσι, η Αμβέρσα, η Λισσαβώνα και νδιαίτερα η Γλασκώβη, που θεωρείται γενικά ως το καλύτερο παράδειγμα. Η ανακοίνωση αναλύει κυρίως τις οικονομικές καν πολιτνστικές επιπτώσεις, με μικρή έμφαση στον τουρισμό. Για τον σκοπό αυτό εξετάζονται σχετχκοί παράγοντες, όπως η εμπορευματοποίηση, η ιδιωτικοποίηση και η βιομηχανία του πολιτνσμού. Τέλος, εξετάζονται γενικότεροι παράγοντες, σχετικοί με τον προβληματισμό του Σεμιναρίου: α) οι πολιτισηκές δραστηριότητες και γενικά οι δραστηριότητες αναψυχής (π.χ. σπορ και τουρισμός) στον αστικό χωρο-χρόνο, που κέρδισαν τις εντυπώσεις του κοινού β) ο σχεδιασμός των πολιτιστικών δραστηριοτήτων (ο πολιτιστικός σχεδιασμός είναι αναπόσπαστο μέρος του σχεδιασμού) ως σημαντική 7τηγή για την κατασκευή πολλαπλών τοπικών χαυτοτήτων στο πλαίσιο της εμπειρίας του κόσμου, παρά τις πιέσεις που επιβάλλονται από 23

τους ανταγωνισμούς της κοινωνίας της παγκοσμιοποίησης, γ) η θεωρία ως αφετηρία για τη διατύπωση μιας ριζοσπαστικής πολιτιστικής ατζέντας. Όσον αφορά την «πολιτισμική στροφή» στις μελέτες του χώρου, θεωρούμε ότι οι μελετες του χώρου συμπεριλάμβαναν σταθερά, τουλάχιστον από τη δεκαετία του 1960, τόσο τον 'πολιτισμό' όσο και την 'οικονομία' και τον 'χρόνο'. Στη σημερινή κατάσταση, ο πολιτισμός από περιθωριακός ερμηνευτικός παράγων που ήταν πριν, κατέλαβε κεντρική θέση. Ομως, δεν θα πρέπει να θεωρείται ως ο πιο σημαντικός παράγων, αλλά να εκτιμάται σε ισορροπία με άλλους παράγοντες και ειδικά με την οικονομία. INTRODUCTION

starting point: 'a boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognised, the boundary is that, from which something begins its presencing' (Heidegger, 1954/1971: 154). II. Is it viable and hence advisable in order to improve the position of a city in the urban hierarchy to use such means as culture, cultural buildings as 'flagship' projects, cultural tourism! On the whole, has it been an improvement in the position of those cities that have become ECC in the European urban hierarchy? III. Finally, to what extent are we witnessing today a 'cultural turn' in spatial studies? Should culture be considered as the most important interpretative factor?

In this paper we have addressed ourselves with three interrelated issues that are in the last instance interwoven with the role of culture (including cultural buildings, cul­ tural events etc.) in urban development. We are trying to do that through focusing on the Institution of European Cities of Culture (ECC) and more specifically through the analysis of a particular ECC that of Thessaloniki. I. How one can evaluate the 14 years his­ tory of the ECC with regard to: what type of culture is being promoted (i.e. high /elitist or low /popular); what type of attributes are being encouraged (i.e. those related to local or those related to global connections); what type of activi­ ties are being favoured (i.e. those related to production or those related to con­ REFLECTIONS ON SOME THEO­ sumption of culture); and finally whose RETICAL ISSUES cultural interests are aimed to be filled 1. The differentiation between high and (i.e. the interests of residents are consid­ popular culture ered of secondary importance compared to those of the tourists?). On the whole The starting point of the study of the differ­ was ECC a successful event or not? The entiation between high and popular culture notion which is important in these dif­ is the analysis of tastes. There exists an in­ ferentiations -as also in the differentia­ ternal differentiation of activities, e g. opera tion between spaces, e.g. public - pri­ in comparison to rock in the case of music. vate, open - closed, exterior - interior, However, in the post-modern epoch of the and times, e.g. working - leisure time, plurality of cultures there is not such an block - piece time, night - day time - is obvious boundary of tastes: e.g. is the musi­ that of the boundary (Deffher, 1995: 48). cal (e.g. 'Sunday of the shoes' in ThessaloThe boundary is not a dividing line but a niki) considered as 'serious' or 'light' mu24

sic, popular or high culture? Art has two "visitor friendly" to increase their commermain facets: it can be a form of pleasant cial viability, the former boundaries beactivity, and it can be a form of knowledge; tween "high" and "popular" culture became these facets are not mutually exclusive. even less distinct. Characteristic examples Thus cinema as entertainment / contempla- are the mixture of history and entertainment tion and serious / popular music tend to be in heritage industry (Hewison, 1987), and false dilemmas, and actually this is another the development of cultural theme parks form of the separation of high culture from (Munsters, 1996) promoting 'edutainment', popular culture by 'common sense' i.e. a mixture of entertainment and educa(Deffner, 1995: 61). tion (Richards, 1996e: 314). The addition of As far as the ECCs are concerned, their education elements to leisure attractions is, concentration of cultural resources has beenaccording to Rojek (1993), a means of difinterpreted by Claval as a spatial distinction ferentiation from the competition (Richards, between high and popular culture. He ar-1996e: 314). According to Scitovsky (1976), gues that high culture relates to reading and Europe has, in comparison to North Amerwriting, in opposition to the oral and visual ica, a greater access to an accumulation of tradition of popular culture. The vast collec- 'real cultural capital', which is the major tive memory of the museums and libraries source market for incoming cultural tourists of capital cities established the conditions (cited in Richards, 1996e: 330). for the concentration of high culture, and the In the case of Greece, the connection art collections and architecture which make between high and popular culture, and parthem so attractive for cultural tourism (1993 ticularly the combination of education with - cited in Richards, 1996c: 60). 'The mean- entertainment, has not been set an aim of a ing attributed to the traditional forms of cultural and/or tourism policy. History has high culture has changed. What people want been faced in isolation, mainly focusing on is a sophisticated form of recreation and the distant past (Deffner, 1994: 150), and entertainment, rather than the pursuit of a the same tendency is observed in the case of personal achievement' (Claval, 1993: 133 - entertainment, the most recent and typical cited in Richards, 1996c: 60). The replace- example being the entertainment park which ment of text-based forms of interpretation has been constructed in Rentis (a deprived by visual display, will probably, according area of Western Athens). to Claval (1993), challenge the dominance Zukin (1991) claims that, although the of the existing high culture based cultural blurring of the boundaries between high and capitals (cited in Richards, 1996e: 328). The popular culture has strengthened the cultural plurality of cultures is also valid for Euro- industries, the distinction between centre pean cultures: this is characteristically re- and periphery in cultural consumption has flected, according to Richards, in the diverse been heightened by the tendency for capital range of museums and galleries (1996a: 11). to accumulate in favourable locations (RiThe search for market niches in tourism, chards, 1996e: 323-4). It can be accepted led to an emphasis on cultural aspects. This that the term cultural industries primarily (in in turn, as Richards (1996e: 312) argues, led connection to creative input and economic to the emergence of new cultural attractions. value) includes the performing arts (theatre, Consequently, as attractions are made more dance etc.), music, the visual arts (painting, 25

sculpture, decorative arts), the audio-visual and media sector (cinema, television, radio, photography, video), publishing and digital technology (Landry et ai, 1996: 25). According to Urry (1994), the areas that accumulated 'real cultural capital' during the Renaissance and during the formation of modern nation states, have continued to benefit from this position, as heritage centres 'rich with time' (Richards, 1996c: 60). In this sense, Featherstone classifies Florence, Paris, and Rome at the top of the symbolic hierarchy of cities (1991: 106) - see Section 5 for different classifications of European cities. The location of new cultural products that combine elements of high and popular culture, is not spread evenly between countries and cities. As far as cities are concerned, it is, according to Wynne (1992), the major European urban centres that have become the production locations for new cultural products that combine elements of high and popular culture. According to Richards (1996e: 324), central to this process are the 'new producers' (Zukin, 1991) or the 'new cultural intermediaries' (Bourdieu, 1979/1984). This phenomenon has not occurred, up till now, in any significant scale in the cases of Athens and Thessaloniki. As far as countries are concerned, there are huge differences too. The most developed countries are the most advantaged also in this aspect. Greece and Italy have experienced growth in cultural attendance since 1970, but at around half the rate of their northern European counterparts: in France, Gen any and The Netherlands attendance has doubled (Richards, 1996e: 324). This relates to a narrow definition of cultural tourism that associates it with elements of high culture (e.g. monument preservation). In an equally narrow definition, cultural 26

tourism has been understood in other cases to be associated with traditional elements, such as folk culture and gastronomy (e.g. Portugal, Belgium). 'In some cases, however, the meaning and scope of culture and cultural tourism have undergone considerable change, as reflected in the inclusion of rap music in the remit of the French Ministry of Culture in the 1980s, and the designation of U2 and the Hot House Flowers as cultural tourism attractions in Ireland in the 1990s' (Richards, 1996e: 313-4). Ireland is a typical case of 'branding culture', as exemplified especially through the show 'Riverdance' with the combination of tradition and modernity as well as of the local and the global (O' Cinneide 1998). The use of pop music as a cultural attraction is also observed in the UK, and it is likely to spread to other areas of Europe. 'Such new cultural tourism strategies will probably be based increasingly around events and festivals rather than static cultural attractions' (Richards, 1996e: 330). In terms of scale and impacts, the most important music event in Thessaloniki as a ECC has been the U2 concert which attracted a wide international audience: this is a typical example of the global role that a national cultural tourism resource can play. The international dimension of Greek music has not been exploited, up till now, in its full potential, i.e. beyond the level of folklore. Thus, the discussion about the existence of favourable locations of the concentration of culture (high and / or popular) relates to another boundary, the differentiation between globalisation and localisation. The differentiation between globalisation and localisation In the contemporary urban context the relationship of the local with the global can be

strong. Needless to say, this depends on the function of how much local people identify particular situation, and on factors such as themselves with the area, how they visualise the media and culture (Deffher, 1995: 46). it, how loyal they are to its causes, needs, The connection of culture with space is,historical triumphs or peculiarities'. There according to Hannerz, not direct: are some residents who are temporary and "As collective systems of meaning, cul- treat the area like a suburb, and some who tures belong primarily to social relation- are committed locals; the balance between ships, and to networks of such relation- these two categories 'maybe crucial to patships. Only indirectly, and without logi- terns of commerce, taste, life-style and culcal necessity, do they belong to places. tures' (Wallman, 1993: 65). Thus, the idenThe less people stay put in one place, tification with the area and the desire for and also the less dependent their com- permanent residence are typical expressions munications are on face-to-face contacts, of an attachment to the locality (Deffher, the more attenuated does the link be- 1995: 47). tween territory and culture become." As far as urban networks are concerned, (1992: 39) 'the cities which are doing well are those Globalisation is a characteristic of the that have successfully managed to position post-modem epoch. The end result of glob- or reposition themselves within an emerging alisation is not, according to Hannerz, a system which, like the economic forces, global homogenisation of culture particu- which underpin it, bears little relationship to larly in the direction of US culture (1992: 5- conventional nation state boundaries' 6). He refers, instead, to 'creole cultures' (Masser et ai, 1992: 103). In cultural terms, 'systems of meaning and expression European cities now increasingly position apped onto structures of social relations'), themselves, according to Corijn and Momwhich the periphery can respond to the maas (1995), in a European, rather than a ntre, a typical example being the impact national context (cited in Richards, 1996d: f world music in London, Paris and New 91). At the policy level, culture is one of the ork (1992: 261-265). In the expressions few resources that policy-makers can use to used by Richards (1996c: 62), the global create competitive advantage for their extension of the 'landscapes of power' (Zu- countries, regions or cities in an increaskin, 1991) coexists with the resistance of the ingly competitive global tourism market ernacular (O'Connor and Wynne, 1996). (Richards, 1996d: 103). This approach of interaction between the In reference to tourism, there is a major cal and the global is developed by Le- contradiction: although the spread of a bvre who refers to space using a different global culture will make elements of Eurorrainology: 'space "is" whole and broken, pean culture accessible to a wider audience, obal and fractured, at one and the same resistance to the erosion of local identities e'(Lefebvre, 1974/1991:356). implied by globalisation will stimulate inAnother urban frame of reference for creasing use of culture as a means of local cultural activities is the locality. The aspects differentiation (Richards, 1996e: 326). Diff localism have changed, and in this sense ference is, according to Hannerz (1993), Wallman speaks of a new localism: 'local- what attracts tourists to a particular place. A ism is not the same as just being there: it is a contradiction surrounding the issue of heri27

tage is that, although the place-bound nature of heritage attractions such as monuments, museums and heritage centres are likely to be more attractive to tourists than art performances (Richards, 1996c: 64) -both being aspects of high culture-, heritage tourists often demand, according to Ashworth (1992), a globalised tourism experience (Richards, 1996c: 64). The main reason for the difficulty to market local cultural products to globalised cultural tourists, is the fact that the essential cultural links are missing (cited in Richards, 1996e: 326). In reference to events, Andersson (1987) claims that the festivals that are able to plug into international information networks will be likely to succeed in attracting visitors. Such developments will lead to the creation of metropolitan regions that combine competence, culture, communication and creativity. Therefore, cultural tourism will be increasingly concentrated in the metropolitan core of Europe, and he makes the point that localities will need to forge links between their local cultural base and mainstream global cultures (Richards, 1996e: 327). The growth of the cultural industries in the cities of some formerly culturally peripheral regions, such as Manchester in the North of England (Wynne, 1992) or Bilbao in Northern Spain (Gonzalez, 1993) indicates that such links may be possible (Richards, 1996e: 327). In the case of Greece, such links have not been materialised, mainly because cultural industries have not been faced and/as vehicle for development of tourism. This emphasis does not take into account two significant dimensions of the cultural crisis: the relation of the national culture with other cultures (or with the global culture) - that is where the issue of 'greekness' (the Greek character which is faced in an autonomous 28

manner, i.e. 'free' from the eastern and western cultures) is placed - and the contradiction of tradition with modernity. 'Greekness' is a particularly timely issue in the attempt for a historical foundation of the modern Greek identity in the context of the new developments in Europe (Deffner, 1994: 143). As far as boundaries are concerned, the differentiation is between social and geographical boundaries, which coincide only if the inhabitants of a local area identify themselves with the geographical boundary (Wallman, 1982: 187). The notion of boundary is also relevant in the case of activities, particularly in the differentiation between production and consumption. The differentiation between production and consumption The study of consumption is fostered by post-modernist analyses (Jackson, 1989: 6), and cultural consumption constitutes an important component of the 'explosion' of cultural studies. However, according to Jackson, consumption must be treated as a 'process by which artefacts are not simply bought and "consumed", but given meaning through their active incorporation in people's lives' (1993: 208-209). The range of consumption has increased substantially, since commodification is not equated with standardisation, but it usually results in a plurality of choices (Giddens, 1991: 200). According to Bourdieu, there are 'as many preferences as there are fields of stylistic possibles' (1979/1984: 226). The importance of consumption has also been extended to the point that it 'becomes in some part a substitute for the genuine development of self (Giddens, 1991: 198). Consumption is not a one-dimensional phenomenon. It is related with production,

but does not coincide with the relationship between passive and active leisure. Rather it is an alternative expression of it. Passive leisure includes listening to the radio, watching television, listening to records and tapes, reading books, periodicals or newspapers etc. - i.e. mostly at-home leisure. Concerts and films in venues are also forms of passive leisure, but they can involve movement and social interaction (Deffner, 1995: 51). Lefebvre, referring to space and machines, speaks of productive consumption: a movement 'between consumption in the ordinary sense, consumption necessitating the reproduction of things, and the space of production', which is used and consumed by flows (1974/1991: 354). A similar example is the productive consumption of the artistic work, especially in reference to the artist her/himself (Deffner, 1995:51). As far as tourism is concerned, it seems that, in the process of transforming consumption into production, globalisation is a stronger tendency in comparison with European unification: "The need to turn fashionable areas of consumption into productive activity has affected the whole of Europe, and has resulted in similar policies of cultural tourism development and marketing being pursued in very different social, economic and political circumstances. The fact that these trends can be identified in areas of the world such as North America and East Asia, indicates that the basic impulse to such policy convergence is more a result of trends towards globalisation than any impact of the unification of Europe, as Gratton (1992) has already demonstrated for the tourism market in general". (Richards 1996e: 313) In the case of Greece, cultural industries are characterised by the importation and not

by production of goods especially of films and records, in distinction with books, plays, radio and television programmes, and works of art that are also nationally produced (Deffner, 1994: 141). The importance of the local constitutes one of the major issues of the 'cultural turn' in spatial studies.

The "cultural turn" in spatial studies As Vaiou and Mantouvalou (1999) argue, "cultural turn' has come to dominate academic debate in the 1990s. Radical approaches to space, for a long time, sought their theoretical reference from Marxism and political economy in order to explain geographically uneven development. Such approaches have often led to little or no reference to spatial disciplines and have been heavily criticised since the mid-1980s from a variety of perspectives". "The critique has questioned the primacy of the capital-labour conflict in explaining geographically uneven development and has introduced other forms of conflict, including those based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, ecology, location, cultural identity (or combination of these). Making any of these a starting point from which to develop alternative frameworks of understanding spatial phenomena and the totality of social life has led to more than just adding to or enriching an otherwise unchanged (radical) approach". "For, if such 'additions' are seriously taken on board, they undermine, or at least challenge, some of the foundations of academic radicalism. Moreover, they bring into the agenda new issues which lead to profound rethinking of the theoretical and analytical foundations of radical political economy. Culture and identity, cultural politics, the reassertion of difference and otherness, the importance of the local and the particu29

lar are prominent issues which form part of a (post-modern?) critique of the 'old' totalizing discourses and master narratives and aim to deconstruct the idea of a generalised social logic".

URBAN CULTURAL POLICIES IN WESTERN EUROPE Following Bianchini (1993a), one can distinguish three main periods in regard to the urban cultural policies advanced so far in Europe. That is: /. 1950s-1960s: urban cultural policies were relatively unimportant. •

made few connections between a city's cultural resources and their possible exploitation for urban renewal, tourism, image or economic development purposes • aimed at promoting high quality art and widening access to it, i.e. focusing on high culture //. 1970s (mainly since the mid 1970s): most innovative and high profile initiatives in cultural strategies. •

were developed by left controlled local authorities in Italy, France, West Germany and Britain • were often part of strategies developed by left parties in many cities to respond to the decline of their traditional industrial working class constituencies. Cultural policy was useful as an alternative form of political communication and mobilisation responding to the decline of the mobilising power of traditional left ideologies and increased public disaffection with conventional party politics. • aimed to endow community and marginalised social groups with an independent cultural voice. III. 1980s: urban cultural policies are very 30

important. An organisation of prestigious events to support "internationalisation" strategies is observed • organise prestigious arts festivals, major sports competitions and other high profile cultural events • the aim was to support "internationalisation" strategies and to enhance the cosmopolitan image and appeal of their cities, i.e. strengthening globalisation • cities with different economic functions in the European urban hierarchy profitably used cultural policies to improve their internal and external images. • "flagship" (prestigious) cultural projects were used in all types of cities (Table 5): i. "declining cities": acted as symbols of rebirth, renewed confidence and dynamism (e.g. in Glasgow, Sheffield and Bilbao, which were dependent on obsolete economic sectors and struggled to find themselves new economic niches and functions). ii. "wealthy cities": acted as symbols of newly acquired elegance, sophistication and cosmopolitanism (e.g. Frankfurt). iii. "global cities" e.g. Paris: acted as enhancement of its credentials as the future "economic and cultural capital of Europe" It seems that there were some major sources of conflict in urban cultural policies: •

•

the maintenance of prestigious facilities for "high" culture marketed to wealthy visitors which emphasise "exclusiveness" or the opening up of popular access to them. the development of elite "flagship" schemes to enhance urban competitiveness or decentralised, community based

provision of more popular cultural activities, targeted in particular at low income and marginalised social groups. Or, according to Bianchini (1993b: 2004): • city centre- periphery tensions, and the risk of gentrification: spatial dilemmas • consumption vs production: economic development dilemmas • buildings (property or capital development) vs human networks (activity): cultural funding dilemmas It seems that such issues were never posed in ECCT97 (see Section 6.4.3.). Needless to say that though we consider ECC as an opportunity to develop a city (in terms of its cultural infrastructure, cultural events, as well as in the urban hierarchy) we consider inappropriate to think of cultural policy merely in terms of the economic benefits that it can induce for a city.

the first European Cultural Capital. The origins of the Cultural Capital event were considered to be mainly cultural, however things changed later on and economic aspects were also introduced. The event was designed, in the words of the European Commission (1985), to 'help bring the peoples of the member states closer together' through the 'expression of a culture which, in its historical emergence and contemporary development, is characterised by having both common elements and a richness born of diversity' (cited in Richards, 1996b: 27). The aims of the event were, according to Corijn and Van Praet (1994), basically twofold: first to make the culture of the cities accessible to a European audience, and second to create a picture of European culture as a whole (cited in Richards, 1996b: 27).

The ECC is a characteristic example of a special event and its launch is the most important large-scale measure of direct action BACKGROUND AND INITIATION OF of the EU in the field of culture. According THE IDEA OF THE EUROPEAN CITto Richards, the first significant step was in IES OF CULTURE the re-interpretation of the Treaty of Rome, The establishment of the European Cities of where culture was defined in economic Culture (ECC) implies a twofold recogni- terms: in the words of the European Comtion: explicitly of the importance of culture mission, as 'the socio-economic whole in the unification process of Europe formed by persons and undertakings dedi(Bekemans 1994), and implicitly, of the role cated to the production and distribution of of cultural activities in urban regeneration cultural goods and services' (Richards, (Wynne 1992; Bianchini and Parkinson 1996d: 96). The last significant step in this 1993; Landry et al. 1996), economic devel- long, but slow, process is the 'Proposal for opment (Williams 1997; Kilday 1998), a European Parliament and Council Deciplace marketing (Kearns and Philo 1993; sion Establishing a Single Financing and Gold and Ward 1994; Sjoholt, 1999) and Programming Instrument for Cultural Cotourism (Richards 1996f). The idea of desig- operation "Culture 2000 Programme"' nating a different city each year as 'Cultural (2000-2004). In this, the ECC is adopted as Capital' of Europe was launched in 1983 by an initiative of the European Commission Melina Mercouri, Greek Minister of Cul- and is financed in a higher proportion by it ture, and was adopted by the European (European Commission, 1998). The ecoCommunity in 1985, when Athens became nomic focus of the event must not lead to

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the side-stepping of the political dimension, and especially the struggles evolving around the issue whose culture is being developed and for whom. Four important, and related, questions which are raised are: a) is local culture be­ ing ignored in favour of global culture, b) are the interests of residents considered sec­ ondary compared to those of the visitors (Richards, 1996d: 103), c) what type of culture is being promoted, high (elitist) or low (popular), and d) what type of activities are being favoured, those related to produc­ tion or those related to consumption? These types of questions can be answered only if a pre- and post- evaluation are carried out. Such a process was followed in the case of Thessaloniki (Labrianidis et al. 1996 and 1998), which will be the focus of this paper. In sum, one can argue that the ECC means different things to different people, and, as a special event, it was used in vari­ ous ways. The analysis of the theoretical issues mentioned in Section 2 is connected to the typology of the ECC, which must be set in a broader perspective in order to iden­ tify criteria other than the 'official' ones for the choice of the particular cities as Cultural Capitals. However, as we argue below (Section 5), it is hard to draw a typology of the ECCs. 'EUROPEAN CULTURAL CAPITALS' AS TYPES OF CITIES In this section the ECCs are put in a com­ parative context starting from the specific and ending in the general. The following typologies or rankings are examined: a) a typology of the ECCs based on the type of event. This was elaborated by the planners of Copenhagen '96 (Richards, 1996b). (Table 1). 32

b) a ranking of the European cities with more than ten cultural attractions in the European Cultural Tourism Inventory (Table 2), as well as the position of ECCs in the European Cultural Tourism Inventory. This Inventory was created by the Irish Tourist Board (1988). (Table 3). c) two typologies, with common elements, of the European cities which have faced their cultural policy as a vehicle for in­ creasing tourism and/or as an image strategy (Bianchini 1990 and 1993a) (Tables 4 and 5) d) a typology of the major European cities done by the French organisation DATAR, i.e. the Delegation of Regional Policy and Action (Delegation de Γ Amenagement du Territoire et de Γ Ac­ tion Regionale) in 1989. (Table 6). The typology (a) of the ECC was put forward by the planners of Copenhagen '96, which, as the city chosen as the last of the original cycle of 12 Cultural Capitals, was in a position to review the experience of the other capitals before deciding on the shape of its own event (Richards, 1996b: 29). The Copenhagen analysis identified five types of events (Table 1). It shows the way in which later festivals have tended to be more con­ cerned with long-term economic and social benefits, rather than the short-term cultural focus of early events. This change is re­ flected not simply in the way in which the event is staged, but also the types of cities chosen to stage the event. In the early years, the event was purely limited to established cultural capitals, but the event is now in­ creasingly being used as a vehicle for re­ gional economic development by cities with far less accumulated 'cultural capital' (Ri­ chards, 1996b: 29). This factor leads to the examination of a broader classification of cities which have many cultural resources in

relation to tourism, typology (b) (Tables 2 and 3). As a next step, a more focused typology (c) that connects cultural tourism with cultural policy is elaborated (Table 4). A similar typology connects cultural policy with image strategy (Table 5). The final step is the examination of a typology (d) that puts the cultural characteristics of cities in a broader context (Table 6). One of the initial aims of this paper was to attempt to create a synthesis of the various typologies, focusing on the examination of the ECC based on the differentiation between production (attractions, programmes) and consumption (audience features, evaluation, and response), in order to study their contribution on a shift in the relative position of the cities that became ECCs in the European urban hierarchy. For that matter, the evaluation of the function of the ECC as a policy at the level of the EU as a non-homogeneous whole, as well as the function of the particular Capitals as locations of this special event, must be integrated with the analysis of the impacts at the level of the economy and culture, focusing on their combined aspect of cultural tourism. However, at this stage it is difficult to draw generalised conclusions about the role of ECC since this cannot be based on strong evidence rooted on the analysis of each individual case. Perhaps one might recall the arguments about Glasgow, which is more or less widely presented as the "best" example (Booth and Boyle 1993; Myerscough 1992 and 1994; Williams 1997) while at the same time there are approaches emphasising certain other very important aspects too that were missing. There are two points worth making (following Boyle and Hughes, 1991) about Glasgow as a ECC.

First, with regard to the contribution of

ECC to the upgrading in the long run of the cultural image of Glasgow there was some arguing that: • the ECC event has been primarily embraced as an economic tool to be used in Glasgow's regeneration. The worth of culture itself is undermined. Culture for culture's sake is not mentioned. • Glasgow's socialist tradition and reputation for effective strike action in the 1960's and 1970's, was putting off inward investment from multinational companies. Through a cultural revival Glasgow's "redness" could be erased hopping that capital might once more return to the city. • "yuppie" cultural activities have been thrust to the forefront subverting the city's natural working class cultural heritage. Elitist imported cultural events are portrayed as attempting to displace working class community events. • the ECC event has more to do with power politics than culture, more to do with millionaire developers than art. • the bulk of the money for the ECC event is coming from the local and regional authorities. Therefore, it is put that the money spent on 1990, given that it is local money, should have been spent on things of greater priority. In relation to these arguments we have the following comments. It is correct that EEC must not be faced mainly as an economic tool. However, the approach 'culture for culture's sake' resembles older views on the autonomy of culture, and especially art ('art for art's sake'). The economic dimension of culture has been ignored in Europe before the 80s, but this does not mean that it is dominant in the contemporary conditions. Also, today after the expansion of the social 33

world of postmodernism, the boundaries between 'yuppie' and 'working class'-or more generally popular and high, cultural activities- are not clearly distinct. Moreover, culture historically is related to political power. Finally, such an approach leads to the underestimation of the importance of special cultural events, since it states that there exist 'things of greater priority'. Second, strongly related to the above, the change in the urban conditions in Glasgow as well in the "image" of the city, to the extent that they are real are not due solely to its role as ECC'90. Glasgow's role as ECC'90 represents the latest stage in an intensive effort to regenerate the city. As in many other metropolitan areas in the world, post-war Glasgow witnessed a succession of crises that threw it into sharp crisis. From the "second city of the Empire" and a "Dear Green place", Glasgow became known as the "cancer of the empire" or as "the worst slum North of Naples". Faced with urban crisis of a severe nature Glasgow soon became aware of the need to launch a program of economic regeneration. There was a negative image of the city (i.e. its socialist tradition and reputation for effective strike action in the 1960's and 1970's), which was putting off inward investment from multinational companies. For that matter Glasgow Action was established in 1985 in order to secure the viable development of the city based on a long term Plan (it was coined "Towards a Great European City"). A new look it was hoped, might stimulate key decision makers to invest in the city, and might attract important personnel by persuading them that a move to Glasgow would mean a better quality of life. The most obvious image projected throughout 1990 was that of Glasgow as a new dynamic 34

and sophisticated European capital for the development of culture. As Boyle and Hughes (1991, 220) argue, "Glasgow was sold as a place buzzing with enthusiasm for the arts". As far as Thessaloniki is concerned, it is one of the three ECCs (Glasgow 1990, Luxembourg 1995 and Thessaloniki 1997) that were not among the 35 cities with more than 10 cultural attractions in the European Cultural Tourism Inventory, while the rest were included among the 24 most important ones (Table 3). The ECC event is a very prestigious cultural event, but for each city it only last one year. Hence, one cannot really expect that the ECC event will bring automatically major long lasting effects on the individual cities selected, unless the socio-economic forces of the city are ready to grasp such an opportunity. In the next section we will examine if in the case of Thessaloniki these forces were prepared, as in the case of Glasgow. EUROPEAN CULTURAL CAPITAL THESSALONIKI '97: PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION ASPECTS 1. The Cultural Programme 1.1. The structure of the Cultural Programme In the context of the Cultural Programme an extremely large number of actions was substantiated. More specifically, 1,271 events and 75 documentaries took place, while 58 books and 5 magazines were published. It is worth mentioning that before the ECCT97 the number of events organised annually was approximately 200 (Theodoridis, 1998). The great majority of events were comprised of music events (27.7%), exhibitions

(15.6%) and theatre (14.9% -Labrianidis et a!., 1998). The large number of performances (10,257) implies that the audience could attend an average of 27.8 events or exhibitions per day, a particularly large number for the standards of Thessaloniki and Northern Greece. OECCT97 was innovative in the sense that it introduced "new types" of cultural activities such as: • The Workshops: in co-operation with the local authorities of Thessaloniki a number of schools of cultural creation for young persons was set up for activities such as photography, graphic arts, theatre, choir, video and audio recording. • The Lounges: areas offering refugees or immigrants in Thessaloniki the opportunity to amuse themselves, to be engaged in creative activities, or attend language courses and lectures which would help their integration to their new society. The Lounges were created in neighbourhoods of large refugee concentrations, which are mainly at the western parts of the city. • From far beyond: immigration in the 20lh Century created a Greek diaspora with its own cultural characteristics. The programme presented the Greek element of diaspora as a synthetic historical factor of globalisation. It turned out to be a chance for reconnection with the homeland of not so well known artists. • The special actions concerning persons with special needs. An extremely high percentage of events was realised by Greek artists (69.5%), or with the co-operation of Greek artists (7.7%). Local artists from Thessaloniki participated at 35.1% of events. There was a significant participation of foreign artists. There was an official national participation

by 28 countries. A very large percentage of the performances that were not free of charge had low attendance rates (37.6% of events had an attendance bellow 34%, while only 21.6% had more than 75%). The relatively low attendance rates must be attributed: a) to the excessive supply of events in 1997; b) to the extremely high concentration of events in time (especially during the months May September); c) the very large number of similar events (e.g. there was a large number of concerts addressed to the same audience). This excessive supply also led to very low attendance for some events (e.g. Raumlichkeiten, Herman Prey, Nireas Voras, etc.) and put a significant burden to the budget. The organisation of a number of events . in Halkidiki and various other places during July and August seems to have operated as a much needed 'break' which helped to revitalise the public interest. Furthermore, another positive aspect was that there was no coincidence of events that lasted for one day and were addressed to the same audience. A high percentage of events (20.5%) was realised outside the Prefecture of Thessaloniki, even though the number of performances was significantly lower (7%). Those events took place in the summer (Graph 1) and mainly in the neighbouring Prefecture of Halkidiki (39%). However, if we take into account the fact that during the summer months Halkidiki is Thessaloniki's main holiday resort we could easily come to the conclusion that approximately 90% of the ECCT97 events were addressed to inhabitants of Thessaloniki. Within the Prefecture of Thessaloniki the majority of events took place in the Urban Area of Thessaloniki as well as in the Greater Thessaloniki Area. In fact, most of the events were hosted by the Municipality 35

of Thessaloniki where most of the theatres, concert halls and galleries are concentrated. 1.2. The response of the audience The profile of the audience was based on a field research. 1021 questionnaires were completed on site. Moreover, there were 504 telephone interviews stratified by Municipality. Three main parameters were used to reveal the profile of the audience, i.e. level of education, profession and the place of residence. Those three parameters, combined with sex and age, provide a satisfactory image of the audience profile. The criterion of place of residence was utilised as a basis of geographical delimitation of three main levels. The first one refers to the distinction among residents of foreign countries and Greece. The former were no more than 10% of the events' audience. Foreign visitors came mainly from EU countries and to a lesser extent from Balkan countries. Approximately half of the foreign visitors were spotted in two events (the U2 concert and the exhibition of the treasures of Mount Athos). Most of the Balkan visitors came for the U2 concert. The second level of geographic delimitation refers to the place of residence of Greek visitors. The vast majority of the audience resided in the city of Thessaloniki (Urban Area of Thessaloniki and Greater Thessaloniki Area). Out often visitors of the ECCT97, one was a foreigner, one came from other parts of Greece and the remaining eight from Thessaloniki. More than 50% of Greek visitors that were not from Thessaloniki, resided in Attica. Furthermore the contribution of the neighbouring prefectures was not higher than other areas of Greece. Finally, the third level of delimitation regarded the local level. Only one out of four residents of the city of Thessaloniki 36

came from its peripheral municipalities. Approximately 1/3 of the audience was rather circumstantial (attended 1 - 3 events) and only 2/3 of the audience had a modest ( 4 - 1 0 events) or steady (more than 10 events) attendance of events (Labrianidis el al., 1998). Public servants were the most regular attendants, followed by employees in the private sector, artists and, to a lesser extent, pensioners. On the other hand, the housewives and the unemployed were occasional attendants of the events (Labrianidis et al, 1998). The most significant parameter was the level of education. There was no interviewee with primary education who attended more than 10 events. Both men and women tend to attend more events as the level of education raises (Labrianidis et al., 1998). The majority of the regular attendants were in the middle age group (26-40). However, what is more interesting is the behaviour of the two sexes in the three age groups. The difference of behaviour of the two sexes is mainly traced at the two extreme age groups, i.e. below 25 and above 40 (Labrianidis et al., 1998). The behaviour of the two sexes in the middle age group is almost uniform, which could be explained by the fact that young couples tend to attend the events as a couple. Finally, the frequency of attendance is influenced by the place of residence of the audience. In this context, 50% of the citizens of the municipality of Thessaloniki who were interviewed attended more than 10 events, while this percentage falls to 40% for the peripheral municipalities (Labrianidis et al., 1998). This differentiation in the frequency of attendance might be explained by the fact that the majority of events took

I I I

place in the municipality of Thessaloniki, which made them more accessible to its inhabitants. However, it could also be linked to the differences of the level of education of the population of the different regions, which, as we have already seen, highly affected the frequency of attendance. Another possible reason could be the relative lack of promotion at the peripheral municipalities. How could we schematically summarise the characteristics of the person who attended most of the events of the ECCT97? She would be a woman, residing in the municipality of Thessaloniki, aged above 26 years and possibly even above 40, who would be a university graduate and employed as a public servant. She would very often be encountered at literature and theatre presentations with a certain preference for foreign artists. As regards the place of residence of the audience: it is basically from the Municipality of Thessaloniki (60%), rest of the city of Thessaloniki (20%), Attica (5%), rest of Greece (5%) and abroad (10% in major events only). In the context of the Cultural Programme of OECCT97 there was a number of events of particular importance, not necessarily in the sense of attendance, even though in some cases important events had very high attendance (Treasures of Mt. Athos and the U2 concert). In fact some of the events were considered to be very important at an international level too (Labrianidis et al, 1998). All of these events were inevitably very expensive. More specifically, only five events of the Cultural Programme absorbed a large part (24.2%) of the programme's budget. The aforementioned "big" events had multiple effects in the sense that they resulted in the promotion of the ECC event, in the higher attendance (from Greece and

abroad) (Labrianidis et al., 1998) and in the promotion of the "image" of the city of Thessaloniki. Education is a very significant parameter since the largest share of persons with no education or with only primary education did not attend any event. However, and that was an even more interesting finding no one in those two groups had attended more than 10 events. On the contrary, more than 50% of the persons with secondary and tertiary education attended more than one event (Labrianidis et al, 1998). The importance of the municipality of Thessaloniki is more than evident which is related to the social stratification of the city (Labrianidis et al., 1998). In fact, of the two most significant factors of differentiation in the frequency of attendance (age and level of education) it seems that the latter is the main source of variation among the different municipalities, and this is exactly that differs significantly among the municipalities. 1.3. The curtailment of the anticipated benefits of the Cultural Programme The Cultural Programme had many resources at least in terms of finance, the highest of all the previous ECCs, however the outcome was not up to what it was expected. We argue that this is mainly due on the one hand to the heterogeneous character of the content of the Cultural Programme and on the other hand to its poor timing. In order to comprehend the shaping forces of the Cultural Programme one would have to look at the socio-political framework of the period, in which a peculiar nationalism was in the raise, particularly in Northern Greece. Nationalism was in the rising due to the fight of Greece and FYROM over the name of Macedonia and this explains why it was particularly strong in 37

Northern Greece (in 1992 two massive rallies on this issue took place in Thessaloniki). This rising nationalism had to be reconciled with the city's aspirations of becoming the metropolitan centre of the wider Balkan area. These aspirations were formulated by the request of all parties of the city council for the nomination of Thessaloniki as European City of Culture for 1997. In such a political context it seemed almost unavoidable that the history and contribution of non-Greek nationalities would be ignored in the Cultural Programme. Unfortunately, to a great extent this was verified. However, there were some events that managed to hint upon the significant role of the Jewish community in Thessaloniki, as well as a presentation of the Armenian civilisation. Due to the inability to express clearly formulated objectives, the Cultural Programme was extremely diverse. The aim was to incorporate into the Cultural Programme the largest possible number of events of all types and addressed to the widest possible audience. It included many events that, despite the fact that they were irrelevant to the objectives of the ECCT97, were financed by it. This had additional negative repercussions, e.g. the fact that a number of events that took place in 1996 were financed by the OECCT'97, for no evident reason, led to the perception that anything (and in fact not only artistic events, but also technical works too) could be financed by the OECCT97. The basic characteristic of the Cultural Programme was heterogeneity ("polysilektikotita"). The intention was to adduce Thessaloniki as a city of the Orient and also of the West, of the North and also of the South, as a capital of refugees, as a Balkan and also a European city 38

(OECCT97, 1997). ECCT97 became a "cultural impressario" rather than a cultural policy maker. There was no debate on whether ECCT97 should promote high or popular culture. The Cultural Programme lacked timely planning, basically due to the unavailability of appropriate spaces. This lack of planning prevented the arrival of various internationally renowned art groups, which in many cases have to plan their performances two years ahead. Related to that is the fact that some events of the programme had to be cancelled (in fact 235 events had to be cancelled), either because the appropriate spaces were not ready, or due to cuts of government funding (after April 1997). Last minute designation of locations, as well as some changes in the location of programmed events exposed the OECCT97, confused the public and proved negative for the publicity of the OECCT97. The great venture of the Cultural Programme is extremely difficult to evaluate. There is no doubt that for that particular year (1997) the arts' 'clientele' increased in comparison to the previous years. In this sense it was successful. However, the true success of OECCT97 would have to be judged on whether the increase of attendance levels will last and moreover on whether it will lead to an increase of the audience in the high quality cultural events (both of high and popular culture), which is traditionally very low. 2. The Technical Programme 2.1. The functional character of the works of cultural infrastructure The Technical Programme of ECCT97 constitutes undoubtedly a large-scale intervention to the city. An intervention that is not

confined to the buildings of cultural infra- OECCT97 took place in a very small numstructure themselves but which touches ber of spaces of cultural activities (14 upon many aspects related to the city (urbanspaces hosted 67% of events with entrance regeneration, promotion of the historical fees), since in 1997 the spaces available face of the city, etc.). In a very short period were less than in 1996. This was due to the a significant infrastructure was created fact that many of the buildings which would which could host a variety of events (thea- host cultural activities were not completed tres, conceit halls, galleries, museums, etc.) in 1997, while some halls were delivered as well as cultural Institutions (existing and during the year, even though unfinished. new). Hence, one should be very cautious reThere was a number of actions aiming at garding the utility of all those new spaces changing the face of the city by displaying of theatre, music and particularly those inits public spaces (monuments, restoration of tended for 'multiple purposes'- created by building facades, etc.) and its historical OECCT97. The financial viability of these continuity (excavations, restorations, etc.). spaces will be very difficult due to high opWe expect that some of these actions (e.g. erating costs. restorations) may lead other agents (whether An element that characterised the existprivate or public) to aspire to replicate them. ing spaces of cultural activities in ThessaloFinally, through the competitions on archi- niki, before the interference of OECCT97, tecture and urban planning, organised by the was that they had similar, and not particuOECCT97 there is now a significant basis larly high technical characteristics. Unforon which future works for the restructuring tunately, this situation is not about to change of the architectural and urban plan of the drastically after the completion of this amcity may be based upon. bitious Technical Programme (e.g. the exisThe largest part (56.9% of the budget) of tence of three main open theatres with no the Technical Programme was directed to distinctive features -i.e. used for different art cultural infrastructure, while the remaining forms - is problematic). 43.1% (Labrianidis et al, 1998) was spent The Technical Programme of OECCT97 on various city restructuring projects, only had a significant contribution to the spatial indirectly supporting cultural activities. distribution of buildings for cultural activiThe main characteristic of the Technical ties within the urban space of Thessaloniki. Programme was the dispersion of its funds In the sense that it reduced the existing to a very large number of projects (ap- overconcentration of spaces of cultural acproximately 300), with the exception of 10 tivities in the municipality of Thessaloniki. large projects amounting to 45.6% of the total budget. The Technical Programme 2.2. The reasons for the non compilation of multiplied the existing spaces of cultural a coherent Technical Programme activities (e.g. the seats at closed spaces In this section we argue that the Technical were increased by 141%, while the same Programme, was not actually a programme figure for the open-air theatres was 207%) -in the sense of a sum of activities set to with the addition of facilities of more or less achieve clearly defined objectives under the same technical features/ specifications. certain cost and time limits. That is, it didn't The Cultural Programme of the have a clearly defined objective -not even a 39

vision- and moreover it diverted significantly both from the budget set as well as from its time-schedule and these render it less effective. We further argue that these characteristics of the Technical Programme are due to causes deeply rooted to the Greek society itself and simply the OECCT97 didn't manage to overcome them. A central dilemma which would seem apparent in the compilation of such a programme, i.e., whether there should be a dispersion of funding to various projects, or their concentration to an extremely large 'monumental' ('flagship') project, was actually never dealt with. There does not seem to be any document drafted before the Technical Programme that would start such a debate or deal with the targets of OECCT97. There were at least two alternative scenarios that could have been chosen (the creation of a large project, or the transformation of the city into a 'living monument'), both of which could be based on the international experience. Is' Scenario: Most of the funds could be concentrated to a large project, such as a building complex of high technical specifications that would serve as an international attraction (a 'flagship',), something that has successfully been implemented in many cases in America and Europe. The remaining funds could be directed to an extremely limited number of renovations of existing theatres and galleries. This scenario would have reinforced the property or capital development aspect of the cultural funding dilemma (see Section 3). Even though a building cannot by itself transform the cultural standard of life in a city, it could be a basic prerequisite. Such a project could put Thessaloniki in the map of the internationally significant venues. It could create its own dynamism for the at40

traction of the city and its wider hinterland (of Northern Greece and the neighbouring Balkan countries) to high quality cultural activities. It would symbolically mark at the level of technical infrastructure the Technical Programme in a similar way the exhibition of the treasures of Mt. Athos highlighted the Cultural Programme and would remain a living symbol of the city (e.g. the Sydney opera building). The Athens Concert Hall provides an illustrative example. Not only did it not loose its dynamism, through the years, but also the quality of its events seems to have increased the public for high quality cultural events in Athens. It could be argued that such a proposal had never been put forward by any of the city's Planning Institutions (e.g. the Planning Organisation of Thessaloniki), the City Council etc. However, one would expect that such an option would be devised by the Board of Directors of OECCT97 and its scientific advisors, since on the one hand the financing required was ensured, while on the other hand the relative international experience of other cities is undoubtedly positive. 2nd Scenario: It became very popular after the delays in the completion of the Technical Programme, would be at that point in time (1995), before the auctioning of the 'big projects' to chose to renovate some halls, as had already been suggested (Royal Theatre, Society of Macedonian Studies etc.) which would provide a number of spaces of acceptable quality expedite the conclusion of the Concert Hall which will be a state of the art hall. Concurrently, as Kourakis (1998) suggested, there should be an effort to create a 'different' kind of building infrastructure for the cultural activities which would be based on small shells within the city, the utilisation of open

and semi-open spaces and mainly on the promotion of the monuments of the city, so that a large part of the activities of the Cultural Programme would be hosted by them (e.g. exhibition of ancient technology), which would make ECCT97 a 'live museum city'. This scenario would have reinforced the human network or activity aspect of the cultural funding dilemma (see Section 3). What was eventually chosen was a large dispersion of funds to small and medium size projects. OECCT97 was actually led to such a choice by its own statute that allowed for the existence of a multitude of interests and targets. The Technical Programme turned out to be a list of projects that included all the 'urgent' and 'chronic' problems of the city that should be solved. The Technical Programme of OECCT97 was actually not a programme, it can best be described as a list of works since it is the result of intense bargaining between different parties (municipalities, interest groups, etc.) so as to squeeze "their" projects (needless to say long overdue) in too, in the process to produce the final list of projects. In a sense the Technical Programme is a product of compromise, as it managed according to Papadopoulos (1996: 57) to gain the consent of almost everyone that would be in any way affected by its decisions. However, i/ is not a compromise between different social groups and other interests parties in order to set down the strategic goals for the development of the city. This sort of compromise between opposing social interests so as to gain social consent is vital and hence more than welcome, if the development plan is to have any chance to be materialised. It is certain that to the degree that there is no coherent plan, the Board of Directors of such an Organisation would be under

severe 'pressure', from various directions, which would often be impossible to resist. There were indeed a number of projects, undoubtedly very significant, which put great burdens to the budget but which were not related to the aims of the OECCT97. On another issue the Technical Programme diverted significantly from the timeschedule set. Only a fraction of the projects and of the total budget had been completed in December 1996, while approximately half (56,6%) of the projects and a larger percentage of the budget (82.2%) had been concluded in May 1998. Even today, a few months before 2000 some projects are yet to be delivered to use (Labrianidis et al, 1998). There are two basic interpretations as to why the projects were not concluded before, or even during 1997, i.e. that the programme was aiming at the long-term needs of the city, or for its needs for 1997. If indeed the programme was compiled while its creators knew that many of its projects would not be ready for 1997, then we have to acknowledge that the pressure used for the construction of most of these projects led to significant increases of their cost and to poor quality. There is no doubt that the clear adoption of such a strategy would likely be acceptable, since it would acknowledge that those projects that would not be ready, would be used for the long term improvement of the city's cultural infrastructure. If however that was the case, then for those projects there should be architectural competitions - national or internationalaccording to their significance, before their auctioning. Instead, in Thessaloniki the, much faster, method of direct auctioning was chosen in most cases, which however is more expensive and not always more efficient. Moreover, in this case the design and 41

architectural aspect are clearly subjugated to the interests of the construction companies (also see Tzonos, 1998). The international experience has clearly demonstrated that buildings designed by internationally renowned architects are usually very highly promoted, which is very often beneficial for the city where the building is located. The most recent such example is the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao, which was completed in 1998. The building was designed by the famous American architect Frank Gehry and was presented in all architectural magazines, benefiting not only the museum but also the city of Bilbao. There are many more such examples. If, on the other hand, the Technical Programme was designed with the prospect of the projects to be completed in 1997, then it was definitely a complete failure. After all, as has already been mentioned, in 1997 there were fewer spaces than in 1996, due to the renovation works underway.

A first answer could be that the persons who headed the Planning Department of OECCT97 were incapable, or at least not suitable, and that their consultants were not adequate scientifically. Even if that was the case, this is not a satisfactory answer since it simply shifts the problem and one has to answer another question, i.e. why were incapable people chosen for these positions. Of course, major changes in the way things operate (i.e. the planning system in Greece) are not always easy to handle and demand historical occurrences, and key figures are part of them. A second answer that was put forward regarded the existence of some 'obscure' forces pursuing their supposedly illegal, interests. We believe that such views belong to the sphere of 'conspiracy theories'.

The 80 billion Drs allocated to the city of Thessaloniki for the Technical Programme was a great opportunity for the claim of a new and improved role for the city and indeed came at a time when the opening - up of the Balkan countries could be used in favour of the city (see Section 6.2.3.). However, the results were by no means up to the expectations. The Technical Programme was a significant opportunity for the upgrading of Thessaloniki in the European hierarchy of urban centres, which was unfortunately not taken advantage of. What were the main causes of this failure? The question that we try to answer here is why OECCT97 did not manage to compile a coherent Technical Programme that would enable the city to claim an improved position in the EU's urban hierarchy.

The additional money flows directly or indirectly connected with the ECCT97, which affected the local economy, can be separated into four categories: • Expenses of the Technical Programme, which are the largest part of the additional money flows in the area of Thessaloniki • Expenses of the Cultural Programme. These include the remuneration of the artists, publicity and advertisement, lodging of foreign visitors, preparations of the venues etc. • Expenses concerning the operation costs oftheOECCT97

42

3. The impacts of the European Cultural Capital Thessaloniki '97: a special event as well as an opportunity missed 3.1. General economic impact^

1 This part is largely based on two previous studies (Labrianidis et. al. 1996; Labrianidis etal. 1998).

• Expenses of the visitors. It includes the expenses for lodging, dinning and entertainment The consequences of the ECCT97 on the income and employment of the local economy were extremely significant. A simple indication of this importance is that the additional income to the local economy (approximately 70 billion Drs) represents 5% of the current income (1994 GDP: 1,530,695 m Drs) of the Prefecture, while the additional employment (4,909 - 5,933 persons) represents more than 2% of the area's labour force (Labrianidis et al., 1998).

The Cultural Programme of the OECCT97 as of its nature lasted a short period, since with the exception of a few events that took place in 1996 and 1998, the bulk of the events was squeezed in 1997. The answer to the fear of the transient nature of the events was to a degree counterbalanced by the creation of some new Institutions of culture. Furthermore, a number of existing Institutions (such as the Municipal Gallery and the National Orchestra of Thessaloniki), managed through their cooperation with the OECCT97 to move, at least in 1997, to a higher level and organise events whose cost was prohibitive in the previous years. This gave new experiences, 3.2 The long lasting effects of the contribu- broadened the horizons of these cultural tion ofECCT97 to the culture and the image institutions and it is hoped that it will conof the city tinue in the coming years without the assistance of OECCT97. The ECCT97 altered, perhaps temporarThe planned and co-ordinated continuaily, the relative indifference of the city's tion of such events in the city could put population towards cultural events. An exThessaloniki in the elite of the European tremely large number of events were hosted cities of culture. It would justify the shift of during 1997 (six times more than the yearly certain cultural events away from Athens, average -1271 events in contrast to apwhose Festival and Concert Hall have given proximately 200). These events covered almost all aspects of artistic creation, some it an unfairly high advantage. It would reof them were of particularly high standard duce the feeling of Thessaloniki being an and may have "educated" a certain part of 'orbital' city and would help the local econthe population, increasing the demand for omy by boosting a number of professions cultural events. In this sense it is expected supportive to artistic events. In the long run that this improvement will last, assuming of it would help to elevate the standards of arts course that there will be a similar supply of education in the city - University Department of Fine Arts, conservatories etc.- as events in the future. well as the competition among the local The, often impressively, high attendance artists and groups (i.e. orchestras) which at the high cultural events as well as the would be beneficial. enthusiastic participation at the more popuHowever, it should be clear that the lar culture events demonstrated that there are recipients for any form of art. The im- creation of new institutions and the reinpetus of the ECCT97 must be consolidated forcement of existing ones cannot be a and it seems that the only way for this to be panacea. Issues concerning the production achieved is by continuing the supply of high of art and its promotion to the public may prove to be much more significant and deciquality art. 43

sive. Many artists from Thessaloniki are forced to move to Athens where the opportunities to promote their work are significantly higher. An important issue connected with the future is the invigoration of artistic creation, which even though was increased in 1997, needs even greater effort: literature prizes, scholarships to artists, orders to composers, enrichment of the public galleries etc. Something like that could even limit the exodus of local successful artists to Athens, which unfortunately is not unique for the arts but extends to most aspects of society (politics, science, business, education etc.). With the occasion of OECCT97 many important people, not necessarily of the arts, first visited Thessaloniki. The fame of an artist and the high attendance he may achieve, directly benefit the image of the organiser of the event and the city that hosted him. It is generally thought that Thessaloniki's image was greatly improved during 1997 and was even comparable to that of cities with established and dynamic cultural life, since it hosted a number of significant events. Regarding the arts, most artists wish to be part of the programme of ECC, as they are considered to be rather prestigious events. Naturally it did not go unnoticed by the international media and it was one of the best opportunities, which was clearly taken advantage of, to promote the city internationally. 3.3 The improvement of the cultural infrastructure of Thessaloniki and the failure to improve its position in the ranking of European cities. There is no doubt that OECCT97 managed to take advantage of the nomination of Thessaloniki as ECC to improve its weak cultural infrastructure and its wider urban 44

landscape. However it failed in creating those projects that would drastically change the image of the city and make it more attractive at a European level. That is of particular importance and should be recorded as another missed opportunity, which coincided with a failure to transform the city into a significant centre of the Balkans. Nowadays, there is extremely fierce competition among cities for the consolidation and improvement of their position in the global urban network. As a consequence, the upgrade of the role of Thessaloniki is by no means an easy task and requires actions with a long-term perspective. In the European urban hierarchy Thessaloniki is at present a city of European importance and can certainly not compete the global metropolitan centres (e.g. New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin etc.) or the established EU centres (Milan, Barcelona, Lyon, Hamburg etc.). It could however compete with cities that are currently reemerging from last decade's crisis (e.g. Manchester), or are trying to take advantage of the opportunities that have recently emerged (e.g. Eastern European cities). Amidst this tough competition, one of the methods used by cities in order to become more attractive is the regeneration of central districts. Thus, areas of old and abandoned houses or factories are replaced by office buildings (e.g. the Docklands in London or La Defense in Paris). Even though regeneration is usually not sufficient, OECCT97 could have followed one of the tested formulas in an attempt to try to upgrade the role of Thessaloniki. We believe that the experience of the inappropriate use of the funds of the Technical Programme of the ECCT97 is just another indication for the need to create a coherent Strategic Development Plan for the city of

Thessaloniki. Furthermore we hope that ECCT97 will provide a useful example for the future (e.g. the coming Olympic Games of2004). Apart of being a special event, OECCT97 can also be seen as a series of 'missed opportunities': First to change the image of the city, either through the extended Technical Programme (e.g. by the creation of a 'flagship' project which would change the image of the city and attract some events of international reputation), or in the sense of an excellent opportunity for the cultural development of Thessaloniki and the promotion of the city in Europe and perhaps throughout the world. This opportunity stemmed not only by the significant funding provided to Thessaloniki for the Cultural Programme but also by the nomination itself as an ECC since artists consider their participation at an ECC event to be a recognition of their work. The development of cultural activities in a city improves the quality of life of its inhabitants making their leisure much more enjoyable. On the other hand the diversity of events gives people a wider range of choices. Culture (seen as a very diverse concept spanning from the fine arts to gastronomy) may assist in the accomplishment of goals. It may contribute in the increase of the reputation of a city and the subsequent increase of the opportunities of its economic development. This explains why many countries compete for the hosting of some internationally renowned special events such as the Olympic Games or the ECC. Second, it failed to grasp the ECC event to create a better viable/ long term setting for cultural activities (in relation both to production and consumption). It failed to create an art market through its Cultural Programme, which would allow on the one

hand the increase of the number of events offered annually while on the other hand it would enhance the production of art in Thessaloniki. The improvement of the cultural activities offered to the city must be seen as an agent of general progress. In this context we should not underestimate the role of the arts as a significant economic activity with direct and indirect multiplying effects (Myerscough et al. 1988). Third, /'/ did not manage to improve the morale of the citizens of Thessaloniki, to overcome a wide-spread misery, usually expressed through a struggle against Athens and to unite the people of Thessaloniki in a vision to improve the infrastructure as well as the socio-economic conditions of their city. Such a unification and rallying did exist before the nomination of Thessaloniki and for a very short period after that, to drastically fade out during the first months of 1997, perhaps because the Board of Directors of OECCT97 never actually managed to 'convince' the citizens as to its intentions. They failed to make consensus become the basis of decision-making (as in the successful case of Glasgow as a ECC). Highly critical articles appeared in the press at a very early stage and were often unfair and scandal mongering, since OECCT97 was an "easy" target. The majority of these articles certainly misjudged most of the people who worked or cooperated with the Organisation, most of whom gave their best had to work at extremely harsh conditions (very high expectations, short time schedules etc.). This negative attitude was fuelled by rumours of financial irregularities. What created this negative attitude in a relatively small society such as Thessaloniki was the existence of the extremely large funding combined with the suspicious attitude and distrust of the 45

public towards the authorities. Finally, it failed to create a "vision" for the development of Thessaloniki. Moreover, what the ECCT97 experience clearly demonstrated was that the social, economic, scientific and other agents of the city didn't have a "vision" for its development and moreover they proved unable to impose a more efficient management in such an important Organisation: a management that would allow the city to overcome its current "small town" attitude. This stance of the city's social agents should in fact be the greatest cause for concern, not only because of its inability to influence the efficiency of OECCT97, but also because it could create similar problems in the future. One of course has always to bear in mind that Thessaloniki lacked basic things in terms of infrastructure and provision of cultural events. In fact in Thessaloniki's case it is the title of ECC that brought the status (and basically the funding from the government) rather than the status of the city that has brought the title of ECC (e.g. Paris). The "failure" is not due basically to the OECCT97 but to the dominant socioeconomic forces of Thessaloniki that have been proved that they lacked a "vision" for the development of the city, along with a lack of leadership. CONCLUSIONS The establishment of the European Cities of Culture (ECC) implies a twofold recognition, that is, explicitly, of the importance of culture in the unification process of Europe, and, implicitly, of the role of cultural activities in urban regeneration, economic development, place marketing and cultural tourism. Three main statements can be made here: 46

I. The ECCs have attempted to promote culture, and the relevant aims of the event were basically twofold: on the one hand to make the culture of the cities accessible to a European audience, and on the other hand to create a picture of European culture as a whole. II. While the origins of the Cultural Capital event were considered to be mainly cultural, however things changed later on and economic aspects were also introduced. III. There is also a significant political dimension related to the ECC event. The main struggles evolve around the issue whose culture is being developed and for whom, which is reflected in four interrelated questions: what type of attributes are being encouraged (is local culture ignored in favour of global culture?), what type of culture is being promoted (high/elitist or low/popular), what type of activities are being favoured (those related to production or to consumption?), and whose cultural interests are aimed to be filled (are residents ignored in favour of visitors). It is difficult to draw generalised conclusions about the role of ECC, since this cannot be based on strong evidence rooted on the analysis of each individual case. Glasgow as a ECC portrays a case where a not very thorough understanding of a case, can be, at least to a certain extent, misleading. In this paper we used the case of Thessaloniki to substantiate our arguments. Two of the most obvious relevant observations are the lack of planning, in connection with the lack of leadership, and the lack of consensus that resulted in the missed opportunity to unite the citizens (a prerequisite for development). In relation to the aforementioned four interrelated questions, there cannot be a general and single answer, and, depending

on the particular city, one side of the question takes priority. As a matter of policy, the aim should be the maintenance of a balance at the social world (reality), but also at the lived world (everyday life) and perceptual world (conceptual framework) of individuals and social groups. The differentiations expressed in these questions do not exist only as oppositions but also as connections. The basis for this consideration is the argument that most phenomena of everyday life are contradictory (for these terms see Deffner, 1995: 101-3). Cultural activities, and leisure activities in general (i.e. including sport and tourism), large or small scale projects, 'flagships' or 'simple' interventions, special events/ festivals or daily events in urban time-space can contribute to the improvement of the quality of life. The end result is the existence of rather more 'winners' than 'losers' in the perceptual and lived world. The US inspired approach that the planners can be involved in a 'win-win' situation is debatable, although there exists an opposite argument based on the Irish experience (Cinneide 1998:312). Planning based on cultural activities (cultural planning) can, in various cases, act as a significant resource for constructing multiple local identities in the context of the lived world, despite the constraints created by the competition process of the social world of globality. The two main sources of conflict in urban cultural policies are: the maintenance of prestigious facilities for "high" culture marketed to wealthy visitors (emphasising "exclusiveness") or the opening up of he popular access to them, and the development of elite "flagship" schemes to enhance urban competitiveness or the decentralised, community based provision of more popular

cultural activities, targeted in particular at low income and marginalised social groups. Also, the main strategic dilemmas, according to Bianchini (1993a), are: city centreperiphery tensions, consumption versus production, and buildings - human networks. It seems that such issues were never posed in ECCT97. The formulation of a radical cultural agenda must have its roots in theory. There is an indirect connection of culture with space. Cultures, as collective systems of meaning, belong primarily to social relationships, and to networks of such relationships. Cultures only indirectly belong to places. This relation is becoming more and more weak since less people stay put in one place and their communications are less dependent on face-to-face contacts. Spatial studies have been, at least since the 60's, 'cultural' as well as 'economic' and 'temporal'. Nowadays, however, culture, from a marginal interpretative factor, tends to be considered by some as a central one. We argue that it should not be considered as the most important factor, but it should be approached in a balance with other factors, and especially with economy. There is a spatial distinction between high and popular culture: capital cities have established the conditions for the concentration of high culture. This mainly implies the concentration of museums, libraries, art collections and architecture. Tourism has led to the further blurring of the boundaries between "high" and "popular" culture. Attractions are made more "visitor friendly" in order to increase their commercial viability, e.g. 'edutainment'. There is also a spatial distinction between consumption and production: the differentiation between centre and periphery in cultural consumption has been heightened 47

by the tendency for capital to accumulate in favourable locations. The location of new cultural products that combine elements of high and popular culture, is not spread evenly between countries and cities. The ECC has been the most important, and the larger in scale, action of the EU in the field of culture. It has been evaluated as a best practice example in the field of culture by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, which is located in Dublin and belongs to the EC (Hall and Landry, 1997). The ECC either reinforced expressed tendencies or it contributed to the creation of tendencies in various types of European cities. It provided the resources for aspects of urban and economic regeneration, growth of tourism, materialisation of a plurality of cultures (high/popular, local/global, consumerist/productive). In the context of competition, all these advantages, which lead to the improvement of the quality of life, cannot be used in the same degree by all social groups, all of the time, and in all types of spaces. There are certain constraints, mainly objective but also subjective at the level of perception, especially if economy, culture, and politics are not approached in a balance.

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51

Table 1. Types and characteristics of European Cities of Culture TYPE OF EVENT summer festival Paris 1989 all-year festival

CITY & YEAR

Athens 1985, Florence 1986, artistic (focus on heritage) Amsterdam 1987, Dublin 1991, Madrid 1992

art city Antwerp 1993

Berlin 1988, artistic

cultural capital year

Glasgow 1990

cultural capital city

Copenhagen 1996

TYPE OF ACTIVITIES

NATIONAL ORIGIN OF ACTIVITIES

PLANNING

INVESTMENT

mainly national

no

short planning period

no longterm

artistic (focus on fine arts)

few international events

no

planning gaps

international programme

good marketing

good planning & professional, centralised management

satisfactory

local, with substantial sponsorship

comprehensive programme based on a broader concept of culture

many international highlights

social, economic structures included, aiming to create longlasting improvement in the image of the city

long-term planning & management with participation of local groups

broad spectrum

improvement of the image of the city

long-term strategy, involvement of local population & business community, involving the whole metropolitan region

wide range

Source: after Richards (1996b) Note: with bold are the cities that have been ECCs

52

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

few sponsors little

FINANCIAL BASE

primarily local

private and public sources

Table 2.Cities with more than ten cultural attractions in the European Cultural Tourism Inventory INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES

NATIONAL RESOURCES

REGIONAL RESOURCES

TOTAL RESOURCES

Ghent Leuven Belgium (5)

2 3 2 1 2 10

9 7 5 5 3 29

10 9 8 9 5 41

21 19 15 15 10 80

Copenhagen Denmark (1)

2 2

13 13

9 9

24 24

Paris Rouen France(2)

9

47 7 54

28 3 31

84 10 94

CITY Brussels Bruges Antwerp

0 9

Athens Greece(1)

4

10

4

10

2 2

16

Dublin Ireland (1)

4 4

8 8

11 11

23 23

Rome Florence Milan

22 13 6 1 2 0 1 1 46

30 11 5 3 3 1 2 2 57

51 3 6 13 8

7 105

103 27 17 17 13 11 10 10 208

Amsterdam Netherlands (1)

3 3

7 7

3 3

13

Lisbon Portugal (1)

2 2

8 8

12 12

22 22

Barcelona Toledo Madrid Seville Spain (4)

1 4 3 3 11

6 7 8 8 29

9 5 1 0 15

16 16 12 11 55

London Cambridge Oxford York UK (4)

8 2 5 1 16

20 6 4 6 36

16 6 2 3 27

44 14 11 10 79

Berlin

4 4 0 0 0 0 1 9

8 12 2 6 3 2 4 37

20 8 13 7 9 9 5 71

32 24 15 13 12 11 10 117

116

288

327

731

Naples Siena Perugia Bologna Ravenna Italy (8)

Munich Bonn Stuttgart Diisseldorf Hamburg Mainz Germany (W) [71 TOTAL

10 7

Source: Irish Tourist Board (1988), as referred in Richards (1996c)

16

13

Table 3. Position of the European Cities of Culture in the European Cultural Tourism Inventory RANK

CITY

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES

NATIONAL RESOURCES

REGIONAL RESOURCES

TOTAL RESOURCES

1

Rome

22

30

51

103

2

Paris

9

47

28

84

3

London

8

20

16

44

4

Berlin

4

8

20

32

S

Florence

13

11

3

27

6

Munich

4

12

8

24

7

Copenhagen

2

13

9

24

8

Dublin

4

8

11

23

8

12

22

10

21

Lisbon

2

10

Brussels

2

9

11

Bruges

3

7

9

19

12

Milan

6

5

6

17

13

Naples

1

3

13

17

14

Athens

4

10

2

16

15

Toledo

4

7

5

16

Barcelona

1

6

9

16

17

Antwerp

2

5

8

15

18

Ghent

1

5

9

15

2

13

15

9

16

19

Bonn

0

20

Cambridge

2

6

6

14

21

Amsterdam

3

7

3

13

22

Siena

2

3

8

13

23

Stuttgart

0

6

7

13

24

Madrid

3

8

1

12

25

Dusseldorf

0

3

9

12

26

Oxford

5

4

2

11

27

Seville

3

8

0

11

28

Hamburg

0

2

9

11

29

Perugia

0

1

10

11

Leuven

2

3

5

10

6

30

York

1

3

10

32

Mainz

1

4

5

10

33

Bologna

1

2

7

10

34

Ravenna

1

2

7

10

35

Rouen

0

7

3

10

TOTAL

116

288

327

731

31

Source: after Irish Tourist Board (1988), as referred in Richards (1996c)

54

Table 4. Categories and characteristics of European cities the cultural policy of which focuses on cultural tourism 1 TYPE OF CITY

EXAMPLES

CHARACTERISTICS BEFORE NEW POLICY

CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW POLICY

AIM OF NEW POLICY

declining cities

Birmingham, Bradford, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Lille, Bochum, Hamburg, Genoa, Bilbao, Rotterdam

disappearance of old manufacturing base

new investment in inner city arts & cultural projects as the means for reconstructing the image of the city and as a major catalyst for economic development, e.g. attempt of Glasgow since mid-1980s

to generate physical & social environmental renewal through service industries expansion

cultural capitals

Edinburgh, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam, Copenhagen

recognised as major cultural centres, but facing competition from other cities

heavy investment in cultural infrastructure, e.g. Grand Projets in Paris

to maintain the lead in Europe

Source: after Bianchini (1990), as referred in Gratton and Richards (1996)

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Table 5. Categories and characteristics of European cities that use the cultural policy as an image strategy TYPE OF CITY declining cities (1)

EXAMPLES Sheffield, Liverpool, Bilbao

declining cities (II)

Glasgow, Bradford, Birmingham

dull industrial centres cities with relative economic development

Rotterdam

cities with social conflicts

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Montpellier, Nimes, Grenoble, Rennes, Hamburg, Cologne, Barcelona, Bologna Berlin, Derry

CHARACTERISTICS BEFORE NEW POLICY dependent on obsolete economic sectors and struggling to find new economic niches and functions decline of manufacturing industry (all), street violence & urban decay (G.), city centre as the main problem because of a series of post-war planning disasters (Bir.)

dominated by petrochemical works and port

conflicts between older residents and migrant minorities (B), different political and ethnic groups (D)

ITEMS OF NEW POLICY Albert Dock (L.), creation of new museums with global aspirations (Guggenheim in B.)

opening of the prestigious Burrell Collection in 1983 & launch of the 'Glasgow Miles Better' advertising campaign & organisation of an annual programme of cultural festivals & culmination of efforts in European City of Culture 1990 (G.), the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television which opened in 1983 in a redundant theatre building in the city centre rapidly became a major tourist attraction (Brad.), Centenary Square, building of a New International Convention Centre incorporating a concert hall for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, organisation of a series of annual arts festivals, encouragement of London-based arts organisations to relocate to the city, connection with an overall urban design strategy and co-ordination with policies on public art and re-use of the city's canal system (Bir.)

RESULT OF NEW POLICY symbol of rebirth, renewed confidence and dynamism enhancement of credibility of arts organisations and the city's international and national image, particularly in tourist terms (G.), enhancement of the city's reputation in media industry circles & improvement of the overall appeal as a tourist destination (Brad.), enhancement of distinctive features of city centre districts (Bir.)

creation of new museums (Architecture), organisation of festivals (jazz & film)

improvement of image

development of sectors of the economy e.g. fashion, crafts and design-based manufacturing and high-tech industry, the success of which depends on cultural inputs, Antigone district (Mon.), 160 new public squares in the build-up to the 1992 Olympics (Bar.)

symbol of modernity and innovations

redevelopment of Postdamer Platz by mobilising international architects (B.)

symbol of reconciliation

global cities with growing image

Paris

global cities with declining image

London

wealthy and aspiring global cities

Frankfurt

series of prestigious cultural projects including Mitterand's Grand Projets: Orsay Museum, Museum of Science and Technology at La Vilette, Louvre Pyramid, Institute of the Arab World, Opera at La Bastille

enhancement of the credentials as the future 'economic and cultural capital of Europe'

fragmentation of cultural policy due to the absence of an elected strategic authority (abolition of GLC in 1986)

no capitalisation of the considerable strengths in theatre, street fashion, music and ethnic cultures, difficulty to coordinate cultural with planning policies and to form public-private partnerships to implement projects and organise festivals and other special events

absence of celebration and increasing accessibility of the cultural strengths to residents and visitors

high economic status with busy financial centre and airport, but relatively low cultural standing and poor image

municipality strategy: increase of expenditure on cultural policy resulting to the investment in high-quality cultural buildings, converting a derelict opera house into a concert hall and creating 13 new museums on the banks of the River Main (museum quarter)

symbol of newly acquired elegance, sophistication and cosmopolitanism

Source: after Bianchini (1993a)

Graph 1. Variation in the number of performances of all events (Prefecture of Thessaloniki and other Prefectures)

-Total - ftef. of Thessaloniki -Other ftefectures

Month

Table 6. DATAR' S typology of cities NO. A 1

TITLE OF TYPE

EXAMPLES

ISSUES (egs)

THE STRONG CITIES Strong economic, financial & international centres

London, Frankfurt

affordable housing, new business centres

2

Strong international R & 0, and technology centres

Lyons, Zurich, Utrecht, Bristol, Mannheim, Bologna

transport, decentralised services

B

THE CITIES WITH A DEFINITIVE ROLE TO PLAY

3

International, communications oriented centres with strong economy

Amsterdam, Southampton, Hamburg, Antwerp

transport, reuse of areas of former economic base

4

Communication centres with weak economy. Some international role

Le Havre, Nantes, Genoa, Bremen, Taranto, Cannes, Palma

Broadening economy, reuse of old areas

5

Communication but weak on other activities

Strasbourg, Manchester, Kiel, Duisburg

diversification, renewal

6

International cultural & research centres

Paris, Rome, Venice, Copenhagen, Athens, Geneva, Dublin

controlling tourism, new enterprise location

7

Cultural, R&D centre with weak financial and economic life

Munich, Berlin, Edinburgh, Montpellier, Caen, Muenster, Padua, Zaragossa, Eindhoven

young population, recreation, housing

8

No dominant functional indicators

Milan, Madrid, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Ghent, Mainz

quality of life, housing

9

Weak indicators except strong demographic indicators

Naples, Seville, Opporto, Reggio, Messina

housing, migration

10

Weak indicators with some economic strength

Hannover, Bilbao, Palermo, Liege, Essen, Liverpool, Cagliari, St Etienne, Thessaloniki

diversification, declining population

11

Weak indicators with some cultural strength

Tours, Granada, Aarhus, Freiburg

tourism, housing, centre development

12

Weak on all indicators

Lens, Valenciennes, Dortmund, Newcastle

new image, new economic developments, regeneration

Source: DATAR (1989), as referred in Burtenshaw et al. (1991)

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