This report focusses on a key issue in European Capitals of Culture: What is the European Dimension of Aarhus 2017 and how does this compare to other recent European Capitals of Culture. The report aims to analyse how a European identity and dimension are being constructed in terms of anchoring a  meaningful perception of Europeanness in relation to local allegiances, found in particularly Mons (2015), Wroclaw (2016), San Sebastian (2016), Pafos (2017) and of course Aarhus 2017. It is however interesting how the European Dimension is conceptualised, interpreted and communicated locally in the case of Aarhus 2017. Based on notions concerning European identity this thesis analyses and evaluate how pronounced Europe is present in Aarhus 2017 at the implementation level. The Aarhus 2017 programme is analysed on a project level based on interviews with managers of specific 2017 project conducted in spring 2016.

Christian Nørkjær Therkelsen is a master student in European Studies at Aarhus University. The report “How is a European dimension and identity constructed in the European Capitals of Culture?” is based on his master thesis.