- Bid book (pre-selection)
- A city's first application for the title, judged by the selection panel to make the shortlist.
- Evidence of intent: what a city promised, not what it delivered.
- Bid book (final selection)
- A shortlisted city's full, final application for the title, with its programme, budget and plans.
- Evidence of intent: what a city promised, not what it delivered.
- Selection panel report
- The EU expert panel's assessment of the bids in one competition, with its reasons and its recommendation.
- Context: useful background, not a city's own evidence of what happened.
- Monitoring panel report
- The EU expert panel's report on a designated city's preparations before its title year, with its advice.
- Context: useful background, not a city's own evidence of what happened.
- Ex-post evaluation
- An assessment, written after the title year or a programme, of what it actually achieved, usually by independent evaluators.
- Evidence of outcome: what actually happened.
- Monitoring or progress report
- A city's own report on how its programme is going, written while it runs, with the figures it has tracked.
- Evidence of outcome: what actually happened.
- Strategy
- A city's long-term plan or policy for culture, including legacy strategies and council decisions.
- A plan: how a city meant to deliver and keep going.
- Action plan
- A concrete plan of what a city or organisation will do, by when and with what resources.
- A plan: how a city meant to deliver and keep going.
- Guide or toolkit
- Practical how-to material that others can reuse: guides, toolkits, handbooks and templates.
- Context: useful background, not a city's own evidence of what happened.
- Research
- Studies, frameworks and papers across one or more cities, written by researchers rather than by a city.
- Context: useful background, not a city's own evidence of what happened.
- Other
- Anything else: news, memos, programme brochures and documents that fit no type above.
- Context: useful background, not a city's own evidence of what happened.
