Rethinking Place Branding Governance: A Multiple Actor Study of a Medium Sized UK City, 2021

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The research is a part of an ongoing programme of research looking into the involvement of local actors in the presentation and representation of their cities. This links to a growing body of research on participatory place branding that looks at how multiple actors can work independently and collectively to share and enact the narratives they assign to the city. This covers the overlaps in the place branding, placemaking and policy activities, providing an in-depth exploration of actors’ participation in the place agenda. Actors included in this research were involved in marketing, planning, placemaking, policy making, economic development, environmental activism, community engagement, heritage protection, and the visitor economy. The funded fieldwork looked specifically at how these actors were able to collaborate on key areas of a medium-sized UK city’s place agenda. Linked to this, the research covers actors’ perceptions of the place and their interactions with each other.

The way cities, regions and nations are branded is changing. Instead of communicating images with scripted logos, slogans and taglines, there are calls for branding to centre on the perceptions and activities of the people who live, work, and invest within its boundaries. Building on these changes, my PhD research showed how different groups perceived and prioritised their city and examined the extent these groups can participate in branding activities. A part of this fellowship involved supplementary data collection. I supplemented and strengthened my PhD findings by focusing on how multiple city actors work together to develop and coordinate branding strategies within another medium sized UK city. This covers overlaps in the place branding, placemaking and policy activities, providing an in-depth exploration of actors’ participation in the place agenda. The research data covers the following areas: - Multiple actors’ perceptions of the city and its identity - Stakeholder participation in the place agenda - Overlaps between place branding, placemaking and policy making - Engagement and collaboration across multiple city actors - Potential areas of agreement and disagreement across multiple city actors - Focus on sustainability as a positioning device for cities and city actors - Changes to cities (specifically their participatory place branding) during the Covid-19 pandemic Participants included in this research were involved in marketing, planning, placemaking, policy making, economic development, environmental activism, community engagement, heritage protection, and the visitor economy.