Cultural mega events : opportunities and risks for heritage cities Mega events have long been used by cities as a strategy to secure global recognition and attract future economic investment. While cultural mega events have become increasingly popular cities have begun questioning the traditional model of other events such as the Olympic Games with many candidate cities cancelling bids in recent years. This book explores how to resolve this issue to reduce overall costs and increase sustainability by further embedding events within the existing fabric of the city. Cultural mega events have been employing this strategy for several decades resulting in a broad range of physical effects and nuanced institutional changes. Cultural Mega Events highlights this growing trend and positions them within a broader discussion of mega events through an examination of three World Heritage cities Genoa Liverpool and Istanbul that have hosted the European Capital of Culture. By doing so it investigates the benefits and challenges of integrating event and heritage planning to provide lessons that can help future historic cities