Publicerad: 2007-03-06
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (tryckt), 1650-3740 (online)
At the intersection of urban entrepreneurialism; communications technologies and transnational flows of capital and consumers lies the “place brand”: the representation of the city through the logos; slogans and symbols of advertising and branding agencies. Cities are increasingly turning to branding as a means of creating and conveying their identity to a public at large; for the purposes of attracting tourism; trade and talent; as well as greasing the wheels of public diplomacy.
This paper seeks to identify the origins; methods and outcomes of initiatives by cities to create a “brand identity” through private/public sector partnerships. The interpenetration of government and private enterprise to create the image of a city is not new; what is new is the transformation of the role of business in the articulation of a city’s identity. Through a case study of the cities of Montreal and Toronto; this paper investigates the relationship between what the proponents and practitioners of place branding say it does and what it actually does in a conceptual and practical sense.
Abu-Laban; Yasmeen and Christina Gabriel. 2002. Selling Diversity: Immigration; Multiculturalism; Employment Equity and Globalization. Toronto: Broadview Press.
Anderson; Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities; rev. ed. London and New York: Verso.
Anholt; Simon. “The Anholt-GMI City Brands Index: How the World Sees the World’s Cities;” Journal of Place Branding; vol. 2 no. 1; January 2006: 18–31.
Aronczyk; Melissa. ”Brand It and They Will Come;” Toronto Star; 17 July 2005: D1.
City of Toronto. 2006. Toronto’s Racial Diversity. Toronto Facts. See http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_facts/diversity.htm (accessed January 14; 2007).
DiManno; Rosie. “Toronto Unlimited: Uninspired or Just Unimaginative?” Toronto Star; 29 June 2005: A2.
Germain; Annick and Damaris Rose. 2000. Montreal: The Quest for a Metropolis. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Goonewardena; Kanishka and Stefan Kipfer. “Spaces of Difference: Reflections from Toronto on Multiculturalism; Bourgeois Urbanism and the Possibility of Radical Urban Politics;” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research; vol. 29 no. 3; September 2005: 670–8.
Harvey; David. 2001. “The Art of Rent: Globalization and the Commodification of Culture.” In Spaces of Capital: Toward a Critical Geography. New York: Routledge; 394–411
Holston; James and Arjun Appadurai. 2003. “Cities and Citizenship.” In State/Space: A Reader; eds. Neil Brenner; Bob Jessop; Martin Jones and Gordon MacLeod. UK: Blackwell; 296-308.
Levine; Marc. 2003. “Tourism Infrastructure and Urban Redevelopment in Montreal.” In The Infrastructure of Play: Building the Tourist City; ed. Dennis R. Judd. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Levy; Sue-Ann. “Better Ways to Blow $4M: New Campaign “Brands” Us as Suckers;” Toronto Sun; 26 June 2005.
Taylor; Charles. 1994. “The Politics of Recognition.” In Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition; Princeton: Princeton University Press; 25–73.
——. 1993. Reconciling the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Federalism and Nationalism Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Soja; Edward. 1989. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory. London and New York: Verso.
Statistics Canada. 2002. 2001 Community Profiles (Toronto; Montreal). Released June 27; 2002. Last modified: 2005-11-30. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 93F0053XIE. See http://www12.statcan.ca/english/Profil01/CP01/Index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed January 14; 2007).
Tourism Toronto. 2005. “Brand Launch Toronto Unlimited: Q & A.” See http://torontounlimited.ca/ (accessed July 1; 2005).
“Tourisme Montreal Launches the Biggest Advertising Campaign Ever Conducted;” Tourisme Montreal Press Releases; 9 April 2002. See http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/AboutTM_Target?PressReleases/EN (accessed December 2004).
Ville de Montreal. 2005. 2005 Economic Report. ISBN 2-7647-0621-9.
Welsh; Jennifer. At Home in the World: Canada’s Global Vision for the 21st Century. Toronto; HarperCollins; 2004.
