Nordic city regions are increasingly taking part in an international competition for skilled workers and mobile knowledge. Throughout the last decades there has been a growing awareness of the cities’ role as an impetus for innovation and regional economic growth in Europe, and similarly a growing willingness to develop strategies for urban renewal and revitalization. Increasingly, efforts are made to create attractive urban spaces and to improve the urban environment in order to attract visitors, workers and companies.
Yet little research has been conducted on how cities brand themselves; how cities succeed in creating or recreating a brand for the city as a good to be marketed and sold. Through selected case studies this project analyzes the various approaches and branding processes that are undertaken in the respective city cases. Based on the respective case studies the study has sought to map a range of success criterions in urban branding.
The case studies comprise both Nordic and European cities that has undergone image transformations, either through a shaping or re-shaping of its image. The study implies a focus on to what extent urban branding strategies is paralleled by physical transformation processes.
This report summarizes the various case studies accomplished in the project, and presents a range of ‘commandments’ that reflect the success criterions that have been brought forward from the case studies.