Key Considerations for Planning the European Capital of Culture ? The Case of Veliko Tarnovo

This paper presents principle planning issues for one of the biggest cultural initiatives introduced by the European Commission - the ‘European Capital of Culture’ programme. Evaluating the success of past European Capitals of Culture, scholars particularly emphasise the need for a well prepared and systematic planning approach. The main objective was to scrutinize how a city can successfully prepare itself for the title year and to develop a framework that depicts key planning areas for the programme. This framework in combination with guiding questions for each of the key planning areas aims to assist future applicant cities in the planning and preparation phase of the programme. One of these applicant cities is the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo. A comprehensive literature review provided a first insight into the topic. In a second step, in-depth interviews with former European Capitals of Culture experts were conducted with the final aim to develop the aforementioned framework and guiding questions. Finally, the findings were applied to the city of Veliko Tarnovo and recommendations were given. The results indicate that during the planning phase particular attention needs to be paid to the field of organisation, marketing and communication as well as funding and infrastructure investment. Organisers ought to be precise on the aims and objectives of the programme, keeping in mind its stakeholders and the legacy they want to leave for after the title year.