How cultural Third Places affect urban development in the European Capital of Culture region of Esch2022.

The European Capital of Culture Esch2022 will take place in the cross-border area that includes the southern region of Luxembourg as well as some French municipalities of Lorraine located on the border with the Grand Duchy. One of the key projects of this ECoC is to define a series of “cultural third places” whose main objective is to favour urban regeneration policies through cultural development. The goal of this research is to approach the role of third places as a tool to deepen the ties between communities and spaces located in European borderlands. Based on the analysis of strategic cultural planning policies across the border followed by interviews with key stakeholders from the area, we come to the conclusion that the building-up of third places to connect people and space across the border can have different meanings depending on authorities and strategic planning scales.