Abstract
The culture, in its broadest sense such as the arts, education, human creativity and cultural industries, is one of the key tools and resources in addressing the challenges of a sustainable urban development and assuring the competitiveness, prestige and a prosperous future of our cities. Many cities start to invest in culture as a driving force of its urban management, planning and regeneration strategies. Among the priority areas of urban managers around the world are the talent attraction and retention, the access to knowledge as well as the creativity and innovation incentives for citizens.
The best practices in this area of the cities of Bilbao, Curitiba and Glasgow which succeded in articulating their sustainable urban development around a strong commitment to culture in all its manifestations, have had a very favourable impact on different urban areas.
The European Capital of Culture programme is an excepcional tool created by the European Union in 1985 that reaffirms the leading role of urban culture as a catalyst of the European identity, the international cooperation and sustainable development of Europe.
The purpose of the research has been focused on the assesment of the impact of different cultural initiatives developed by six Spanish cities, finalists for the European Capital of Culture programme 2016, on their main urban dynamics.

Przeczytaj cały artykuł autor: Olga Kolotouchkina