The city as a brand. (2/6)

A series of six articles.

It must be the dream of every ambitious brand maker: to turn a city into a strong city brand. It is certainly a highly fascinating task. But is it realistic that cities can be turned into brands? Going even further: is it desirable for cities to be turned into brands?

These questions are addressed in six articles that are published on an ongoing basis in the business of brand management. The articles are each excerpts from Häusler and Häusler: How cities become brands. Developing city brands purposefully and thoughtfully, Springer 2024 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-43776-3 (German version, Springer Gabler 2023 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-41456-6). The articles have been slightly shortened and edited.

The city as a concept.

The (scientific) literature on the city fills entire libraries and can of course only be considered here in a highly selective and largely superficial manner. In order to get conceptually closer to the ‘product’ city as a brand maker (the properties, services and functions, the benefit), the following questions seem helpful: What (‘product’-)shape do cities take in terms of key figures, physical characteristics or spatial dimensions (as geographical fixed points, designed areas or as built-up space)? What offers do cities make and what roles do cities (the providers of the ‘product’) play in the course of history and in the current age of globalization? Which actors and processes are decisive for the design of the city?

From six perspectives, we want to approach the general phenomenon of the city and the specific characteristics of individual cities in exploring these peculiarities. The first two viewpoints open up the broad spectrum between facts and fiction. The following four perspectives range from historical (from art to city histories) (rather) analytical (reflecting the contrast between built and social space) to (tendentially) prescriptive (the city as a social construction and thus as a designable object) approaches:

• At the beginning of the journey are seemingly trivial features: quantities (such as geodata, population numbers, area expansions) and qualities (for example, functions) should be able to define the city as a general category as well as a specific city as an identifiable unit sufficiently precisely. Yet cities (as a category and as an ‘individual case’) remain extremely complex objects (also and especially with regard to efforts to develop city brands).

Photo: Wolfgang Fach

• Cities and urban life are repeatedly the subject of literary (artistic) processing. Very vivid and pointed (although of course personally shaped) hints are given on the peculiarities of individual cities. Some of these are so detailed that they can be specifically traced on the corresponding city maps if interested. Or life in cities is vaguely associated with specific feelings, worlds or styles of life. As expressive works of art (as signs, images, texts created by artists), cities and brands are indeed related in nature, but artists and city brand makers are at best distant cousins.
  
• The picture also remains complex when the development of urban life is viewed historically. In addition to the history of urbanization, the history of individual cities is also of interest. Even from a historical perspective, the ambivalent relationship between the development process and the result becomes apparent: While (some) cities become powerful myths (very similar to particularly successful brands) but in the sense of solidified history, their emergence has little in common with what could be called brand development.
  
• Of course, the city as a social phenomenon is often the subject of (in addition to historical) further scientific considerations. Different (sociological, political and economic) attempts are made to conceptualize this phenomenon, to categorize it or to theoretically illuminate it. Although cities gain extensive social significance in these considerations, remarkable scopes for the design of city brands do rather not emerge from this perspective.
  
• Cities have been (and are) often the subject of very concrete design attempts. Fundamental transformations or grandiose new foundations of cities are usually associated with totalitarian rulers (hardly any female rulers). The modern city has been the object of work of various professions (engineers, architects, urban planners) since the mid-Nineteenth century. These actors (urbanists) strive in the truest sense of the word to shape the form of cities according to their ideas. Interestingly, corresponding efforts to also explicitly and professionally shape the image (the external image) of cities are still lacking. Nevertheless, very concrete points of connection arise between these designers of the modern city and city brand makers.
  
• Finally, some scientific observers of urban life approach their still abstract considerations much more closely to the practical concerns of brand making: Do individual cities differ in their internal and external perceptions? If yes: How can these differences be defined? And: Can these distinctions be intentionally and purposefully brought about? Attempts to develop city brands are particularly compatible with these scientific analyses. Here, the existence of central prerequisites for the development of city brands is scientifically postulated: The city appears as an (to some extent) autonomous actor, with (sufficiently) distinguishable identities and with (different and significant) design options.