Identity, memory and citizenship of cities in the context of the European Capital of Culture bidding process

The article analyses the socio-cultural changes triggered by the European Capital of Culture 2016 bid. Results presented in this paper come from the research project: The effect of ECC. Searching for new urban narratives (Efekt ESK. W poszukiwaniu nowych miejskich narracji), which was funded by the Impart 2016 Festival Centre (grant no: K/KDU/000332), conducted by academic staff of the Institute of European Studies. The research covered seven out of eleven cities, which between 2007-2011 participated in the bidding process for the European Capital of Culture 2016: Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin and Wrocław. The main emphasis is placed on the issue of city identity, analysed in reference to three basic variables: urban narratives, memory of the city and city citizenship