Mihalis Kavaratzis – författare

This prescient book explores the relationship between city branding, reputation management and tourism development through a comprehensive collection of propositions to re-examine and refine city branding tools and ideas.Enhancing the existing literature and with contributions from cities across four continents, chapters set out how city branding relates to urban identity and image, city reputation and sustainable tourism development. Illustrating how city branding can contribute towards a more sustainable future for cities, the book transcends disciplinary boundaries and uses methodological propositions to provide an innovative assessment of the current status of reputation management and tourism development. Showcasing new understandings of tools and conceptualizations, this forward-thinking book develops this field of study in both theory and practice.City Branding is an excellent resource not only for scholars of urban studies and tourism management but also for those studying local development, planning and place management. Practitioners in local authorities will also find the examples and practices examined informative as lessons for the future.

Many facets of place branding, such as identities, image, promotion or sense of place, have been around for a long time. However, the need to analyse their nature in the context of branding and to examine their relationships in detail has grown rapidly in the last decade or so, as places all over the world have put branding activities higher than ever in their agenda. This important new book examines and clarifies key aspects of the recently popularised concept of place branding, expounding many controversies, confusions and discords in the field. The expert contributors clarify several unresolved issues surrounding the application of place branding, in particular its multiple goals. They provide a detailed analysis of the role of local communities in place branding strategies, and illustrate not only how, but also why brand management should be implemented. Case studies from a range of jurisdictions and cultural and political viewpoints are drawn upon, each illustrating an array of issues or techniques in specific economic, cultural and geographical contexts. This book provides a theoretically informed but practically oriented overview and discussion of the increasingly popular field of place branding as an instrument of place management. As such, it will strongly appeal to both academics and practitioners in the fields of place marketing, place branding, local development, tourism planning and development, tourism marketing, cultural geography, urban and regional planning. Consultants in local authorities, national and regional tourism boards will also find this to be a fascinating read.

As Place Branding has become a widely established but contested practice, there is a dire need to rethink its theoretical foundations and its contribution to development and to re-assert its future.