The City is more than just a Destination: An Insight into City Branding Practices in Croatia

Abstract

The article insists on a clear difference between place branding (city or nation branding) and destination branding, while a number of Croatian and some Southeast European cities, recognizing tourism as economic opportunity, tend to see their urban space almost exclusively as various destinations. Branding processes follow exactly the same line of development, often failing to include the main fabric of the city -the local community itself. In the article, branding processes of selected cities in Croatia and branding projects in several Southeast European cities have been researched. The results show that the majority of them have designed their brand identities as if tourism was the only cultural and economic fact the community has to offer. Places are turned into destinations and destination branding methods work only towards attracting the outsiders, which then results in the lack of sustainability for the insiders. Thus communities become 'tourism products' and, within such a framework, the issues of the real city identity, its carriers and forms are neglected. In the article the top-down approach to place branding is revisited, new factors -cultural and social participation -are recognised in the reconfiguration of economy and identity. This calls for grounding the place branding methods on the issue of self-perception connected to the vision of communal development. Thus a new concept of identity system is proposed as a theoretical frame for the working methodology. It is a new Sociologija i prostor, 55 (2017) 207 (1): 117-134 118S o c i o l o g i j a i p r o s t o r approach to branding (or rather identity making) which enables individuals to contribute to the collective symbolic framework respecting the city and its citizens while at the same time allowing outsiders to get to know its substantial values.

Jakarta’s city branding as para-diplomacy: beyond greening stadium and race

“…It is widely known that branding cities has been a para-diplomacy strategy for subnational governments to attract investments, tourists, and capitals. A number of scholars have studied city branding through various case studies (Auschner et al, 2020;Jelinčić et al, 2017;Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015). Those studies attempt to suggest city branding as the creation of a new identity (Auschner et al, 2020;Jelinčić et al, 2017) and a strategy for global competition (Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015).…”

“…A number of scholars have studied city branding through various case studies (Auschner et al, 2020;Jelinčić et al, 2017;Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015). Those studies attempt to suggest city branding as the creation of a new identity (Auschner et al, 2020;Jelinčić et al, 2017) and a strategy for global competition (Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015). City branding has been created through transformation in diplomacy (Zamorano & Morató, 2015) and internationalization of local development (Auschner et al, 2020).…”

“…City branding has been created through transformation in diplomacy (Zamorano & Morató, 2015) and internationalization of local development (Auschner et al, 2020). Despite their different case studies, they suggest culture as the main driver of city branding (Jelinčić et al, 2017;Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015). Slightly different from the others, in addition to cultural factor Jelinčić et al, (2017) suggests the role of community participation in building city branding which differentiates city branding from destination branding.…”

Jakarta’s City Branding as Para-Diplomacy: Beyond Greening Stadium and Race

“…It is widely known that branding cities has been a para-diplomacy strategy for sub-national governments to attract investments, tourists, and capitals. A number of scholars have studied city branding through various case studies (Auschner et al, 2020;Jelinčić et al, 2017;Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015). Those studies attempt to suggest city branding as the creation of a new identity (Auschner et al, 2020;Jelinčić et al, 2017) and a strategy for global competition (Ulldemolins, 2014;Zamorano & Morató, 2015).…”

“…Furthermore, as often claimed by the city policy makers, there has been increasing roles of local communities in the city development as city branding is supposed to be a bottom-up policy. The participations of communities are necessary in the act of branding the city, making it different from that of branding the destinations (Jelinčić et al, 2017).…”