By the European Commission.

This first edition of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor shows how well 168 selected cities in 30 European countries perform on a range of measures describing the ‘Cultural Vibrancy’, the ‘Creative Economy’ and the ‘Enabling Environment’ of a city. The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor is designed to help national, regional and municipal policy makers identify local strengths and opportunities and benchmark their cities against similar urban centres using both quantitative and qualitative data. The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor is thus an instrument to promote mutual exchange and learning between cities. For researchers, the pool of comparable data is expected to generate new questions and insights into the role of culture and creativity in cities’ social and economic wellbeing. The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor supports the European Commission’s efforts to put culture at the heart of its policy agenda. It provides a common evidence base at city level that illuminates the importance of culture and creativity and their contribution to improving socio-economic perspectives and resilience.