EU Cultural Cities Monitor 2017: Paris Leads, Milan Outranks Rome

The European Commission has released the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor 2017, a study ranking 168 cities across 30 European countries on cultural vibrancy, creative economy, and enabling environment. Paris tops the XXL category (cities over 1 million), followed by Munich, Prague, and Milan. In the L category (500,000–1 million), Florence ranks fifth after Edinburgh, Karlsruhe, Utrecht, and Nuremberg. The monitor, developed by the Commission's Joint Research Centre, provides an online platform for policymakers to compare cities and identify strengths and areas for improvement. Notably, Italy's capital Rome is outperformed by Milan, Florence, and Bologna in cultural vibrancy, ranking 12th out of 21 cities in that category and near the bottom for enabling environment. EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics stated his goal is to place culture at the center of the European strategic agenda. The 'ideal' cultural city would combine top indicators from various cities: Cork's cultural venues, Paris's attractiveness and creative jobs, Eindhoven's intellectual property and innovation, Glasgow's openness and tolerance, and Copenhagen's governance quality.