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作者

Katherine VanHoose;Myrte Hoekstra;Marco Bontje

来源

CITIES,Vol.114,Issue1,Article 103216

语言

英文

关键字

Place branding;Regeneration;Urban imaginaries;Civic pride;Small towns;Postindustrial;Heerlen;The Netherlands

作者单位

Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15629, 1001 NC Amsterdam, the Netherlands;Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), Postbus 20301, 2500 EH Den Haag, the Netherlands;Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15629, 1001 NC Amsterdam, the Netherlands;Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), Postbus 20301, 2500 EH Den Haag, the Netherlands

摘要

This paper analyzes place branding as a policy intervention in postindustrial small and medium sized towns. We broaden the current and primarily large city focused discussion of place branding in postindustrial locales by examining the re-branding of the former mining town of Heerlen, the Netherlands. The concept of urban imaginaries, or the collection of (historical) representations and narrations of urban space, is used to analyze how place branding strategies are (un)successfully received by target audiences, in particular by different resident groups. While the campaign ‘Urban Heerlen’ has contributed to a successful cultural regeneration, its contested definition of ‘urban’ and the application of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy for regeneration limits its effectiveness in terms of authenticity and inclusivity. We argue that place branding in smaller postindustrial cities might benefit from an explicit recognition of and engagement with the urban imaginaries of residents.