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A Short Reflection on City Branding and its Controversies

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  • Gert‐Jan Hospers

Abstract

Thanks to its conceptual character the paper ‘City Branding: An Effective Assertion of Identity or a Transitory Marketing Trick?' by Kavaratzis and Ashworth (2005) is a classic piece in the area of place branding. The paper has been much cited in the literature, but did it really steer the further development of the field? Nearly fifteen years later, there is still a lot of debate in place branding circles. Taking the paper as a starting point I briefly discuss four controversies in city branding: (1) branding versus marketing; (2) places versus products; (3) policy versus politics; and (4) theory versus practice. I conclude that the complexities surrounding places and their stakeholders asks for more realism, modesty and dialogue in the place branding community.

Suggested Citation

  • Gert‐Jan Hospers, 2020. "A Short Reflection on City Branding and its Controversies," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(1), pages 18-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:tvecsg:v:111:y:2020:i:1:p:18-23
    DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12386
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    Cited by:

    1. Edison Jair Duque Oliva & Javier A. Sánchez-Torres, 2023. "Building a University City Brand: Colombian University Students’ Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-24, April.
    2. Niedja de Andrade e Silva Forte Santos, 2021. "Crossroads between city diplomacy and city branding towards the future: case study on the film cities at UNESCO Creative Cities Network," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 105-125, March.
    3. Anna Matwiejczyk, 2024. "Polish Functional Urban Areas: fundamental barriers to place branding," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 76-85, March.
    4. Di Wu & Neil M. Coe, 2023. "Bottom-up cluster branding through boundary spanners: The case of the Jingdezhen ceramics cluster in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(14), pages 2874-2900, November.

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