The European Capital of Culture: The Challenge for Urban Regeneration and Its Impact on the Cities
Panagiota Papanikolaou

Abstract
The institution of the Cultural Capital constitutes one of the greatest cultural institutions in Europe, which was established in 1985 from the European Ministers of Culture, following the proposal of the Greek Minister, Melina Mercouri. This paper discusses the importance of this institution for the European cities, which compete with each other in order to become host cities. Furthermore, it focuses on the field of the cultural regeneration, as a consequence, and its impact on the host cities. In Greece three cities have become Cultural Capitals, Athens in 1985, Thessaloniki in 1997 and Patra in 2006, with Thessaloniki being the highlight, especially in terms of urban regeneration.

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