The level of integration of a city into transnational networks has become widely interpreted as the decisive factor of urban development in a globalising world. Hence, the building of transnational links has become a vital aspect of city development strategies. This applies in a particular way also to the "latecomer" cities in East Central Europe aspiring to overcome marginality. Here, the analysis of final European Capital of Culture applications allows for definition of the state-of-the-art of such transnationalisation strategies in this part of Europe. As the cases of the five cities shortlisted in the contest to become the Polish European Capital of Culture 2016 show (i.e. Gdałsk, Katowice, Lublin, Warsaw, and the eventual laureate city of Wrocław), transnational networking on the level of innovative regions, metropolitan areas or cross-border regions is rather poorly developed. The cases also show that the lack of transnational urban societies, which is interpreted as a disadvantage in the quest to build and market attractive and creative cities, can be compensated for by the rediscovery of a multiethnic past.