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作者

Charles Audouin

来源

CITIES,Vol.123,Issue1,Article 103577

语言

英文

关键字

Medium-sized cities;City branding;Multi-level;Urban governance;Nantes;France

作者单位

Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University;Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University

摘要

Increasingly entrepreneurial local governments have embraced city branding to enhance city images and identities and to increase attractivity, as a response to the growing intercity competition. Medium-sized cities, being caught in the incertitude and possibilities to both grow or decline, can entirely benefit from city branding to foster their urban development. This article aims to illustrate how city branding is materialized in medium-sized cities, using the multi-level governance analytical framework and a case study in Nantes, France. The findings show that local scales of governance have been shaping a city branding strategy promoting new representations and virtuous images of the city, such as ‘livable’, ‘sustainable’ or ‘creative’. Nevertheless, the national influence, through territorial and administrative reforms, has been of crucial importance in aligning city branding in Nantes. More than global cities that are less dependent on and conditioned by the national policy, the case study verifies that the endorsement of national scales of governance is imperative for medium-sized cities to achieve their branding objectives.