The effect of Plovdiv’s participation in the ECOC project on the deteriorating cultural heritage site Kapana

Kapana, as one of Plovdiv's cultural heritage sites subjected to desolation during the years of transition, had a desperate need of attention. Plovdiv's bid for the European Capital of Culture served as a primary impulse directed towards the area's restoration. The long process of the neighbourhood’s transformation goes back to 2012 when the city's municipality, together with the foundation Plovdiv 2019, started Kalpana's preparation as part of many transformations in the city. Furthermore, this thesis's main objective is to explain how the municipal instruments focused on revitalizing Kapana influenced the cultural heritage restoration of the neighbourhood concerning Plovdiv's bid and participation in ECOC 2019. Moreover, the type of this research is explanatory, and the strategy used is a case study (focused on Kapana) addressing the key research question: “To what extent did the selected marketing, branding, and funding instruments (used during Plovdiv’s bid and preparation for ECOC) influence the restoration of the inner-city cultural heritage site Kapana?.” According to the main findings of this research, not all municipal instruments influenced Kalpana's restoration equally. However, two of them (namely the funding and marketing instruments) were notably more successful when compared to the branding instruments. Overall, there is no doubt that the restoration of Kapana was successful as it transformed it from a derelict area full of parked cars into a vibrant place where people want to spend time and have various cultural activities. Finally, there were a couple of limitations in conducting this study as the political turbulence in Bulgaria, and COVID-19 pandemic at this time were the ones that had the most significant influence. While 2019 was the year of the ECOC participation, the pandemic strongly affected businesses worldwide and certainly was a detrimental factor to the further growth of Kapana. It cannot be assumed how the further development of the area would look. However, this was not the goal of this study, and future studies are necessary to examine the pandemic's effect on the area and its future direction.