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Place branding from a multi-level perspective

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Abstract

This article proceeds from the basic assumption that place branding is a place-creating process. Its main argument, however, is that these acts of place creation must be understood from a multi-level perspective. To substantiate this argument, the author provides empirical evidence from four spatial levels, namely, a neighbourhood, a municipality, a functional region and a county in Sweden. The empirical data show that at all these four levels place-branding actors use two particular techniques – spatial positioning and spatial anchorage – in order to communicate the space they wish to promote. The techniques of anchorage and positioning create a complex web of branded places, which, the author argues, can be understood only from a multi-level perspective on place branding.

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Notes

  1. The methodological territorialism referred to is certainly not a problem only for place-branding research. Brenner (2004, p. 8) cites ‘urban studies, regional studies, comparative politics, international relations’ to show that social scientific research quite generally tends to be ‘organised according to distinctive scalar foci’.

  2. SCB (2007).

  3. A functional region could be understood as a space ‘characterised by a high frequency of intraregional interaction’ (Karlsson and Olsson, 2006). Whether Fourth City Region really qualifies as a functional region is an ontological question that is not answered here.

  4. www.fjarde.se/296.html.

  5. www.ostsam.se/fakta/C_1.asp.

  6. The governmental structure of Östergötland is, as in many other Swedish counties, somewhat complicated. The County Council (landsting) is a public body, governed by a popularly elected board. Although the county council can be described as the intermediate decision-making level in Sweden, the county council has no authority over the municipalities. The responsibilities of the county council are also largely restricted to public health and certain other matters that are too costly for the municipalities to manage individually. These ‘other matters’ are, however, delegated to the Regional Development Council, Östsam, in which all 13 municipalities in Östergötland and the county council are enlisted as members. As well as the county council, the County Administrative Board (länstyrelsen) needs to be mentioned. This is a central government agency, supposed to function as the representative of the Swedish Parliament and the central government at the regional level. However, it also has ‘a parliamentary mandate to work for the county's best interests’. See http://www.lst.se/english/society.htm.

  7. Elsewhere, Mary Ann Tétreault (1998) has used the concept of meta-space somewhat differently.

  8. www.enkoping.se/, 8 July 2008.

  9. www.pitea.se/ext_Templates/default.aspx?id=20181&epslanguage=SV, 8 July 2008.

  10. www.katrineholm.se/upload/Bes%C3percnt;B6ksguidepercnt;20delpercnt;201.pdf, 8 July 2008.

  11. Agenda Klockaretorpet (2007a) Klockrent Magazine, No.2, pp. 2–3; Interview 08.

  12. Agenda Klockaretorpet (2007a, pp. 6–7).

  13. Destination Norrköping (2006a); Norrköpings Kommun (2008b); Interview 01, 03, 04, 06, 07; Norrköpings Municipality (n.y., p. 2).

  14. Destination Norrköping (2006a, p. 6).

  15. Destination Norrköping mfl (2006b); Fjärde Storstadsregionen (n.y., p. 7); Marknadsbolagen (n.y., p. 10).

  16. Fjärde Storstadsregionen (n.y., p. 6).

  17. Destination Norrköping mfl (2006b); Konkurrenskraftiga regioner i en globalisorad värld (2008).

  18. See Fjärde Storstadsregionen (n.y., p. 3).

  19. Marknadsbolagen (2002, pp. 4, 18; n.y., pp. 4–6).

  20. Interview 06.

  21. Interview 01; Interview 03; Interview 06.

  22. Interview 02.

  23. Östsam (2006a, pp. 6, 9, 14).

  24. Östsam (2006a, pp. 17–18); Interview 02.

  25. Östsam, Regionförbundet (2006a, pp. 13–14; 2006b, pp. 11, 15); Östsvenska turistrådet (2008, p. 6).

  26. Agenda Klockaretorpet (n.y.a, p. 1); Interview 08.

  27. Agenda Klockaretorpet (n.y.b, pp. 2, 4). See also Agenda Klockaretorpet and Studiefrämjandet (n.y.c, p. 2).

  28. Destination Norrköping (2006a); Norrköpings Kommunstyrelse (2007); Norrköpings Kommun (2008a); Norrköpings Kommun (2008b, p. 2).

  29. Norrköpings Kommun (2008a; 2008b, p. 3).

  30. Norrköpings Kommun (2008a).

  31. Norrköpings Kommun (2008a; 2008b, p. 3); Norrköpings Stadsbyggnadskontor (2007, p. 2).

  32. Destination Norrköping (2006a, p. 8); Stadsbyggnadskontor (2007) Nya staden. Norrköping, p. 3; Norrköpings Kommun (2008a).

  33. Marknadsbolagen (2006a; 2006b; n.y.); Fastighetsägardagen (2008); Hur bygger man en storstadsregion? (2008); Interview 01; Fjärde Storstadsregionen (n.y., p. 4).

  34. Interview 03; Interview 04.

  35. Fjärde Storstadsregionen (n.y., p. 6).

  36. Marknadsbolagen (2002, p. 3).

  37. Fourze (n.y., pp. 10–11).

  38. Marknadsbolagen (2002, pp. 7, 10, 12; 2006b; n.y., pp. 8, 9); Interview 01, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07.

  39. Marknadsbolagen (2002, p. 1; n.y., p. 8).

  40. Marknadsbolagen (2002, pp. 3, 10); Interview 03, Interview 04.

  41. Östsam, Regionförbundet (2006a, p. 56; pp. 54–56, 58; 2006b, pp. 7, 11); Östsvenska turistrådet (2008, pp. 3, 5); Interview 05.

  42. Östsam (2006a, p. 13); Interview 04.

  43. Östsvenska turistrådet (2008, p. 4).

  44. Östsvenska turistrådet (2008, p. 5); Interview 05.

  45. Östsam (2006b, p. 11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. REMESO Institute for Migration, Ethnicity and Society, Linköping University, Sweden

    Josefina Syssner

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  1. Josefina Syssner
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Correspondence to Josefina Syssner.

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Syssner, J. Place branding from a multi-level perspective. Place Brand Public Dipl 6, 36–48 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2010.1

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