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Inclusive Place Branding

Critical Perspectives on Theory and Practice, 1st Edition

Edited by Mihalis Karavatzis, Massimo Giovanardi, Maria Lichrou


196 pages | 10 B/W Illus.




Place branding is often a response to inter-place competition and discussed as if it operated in a vacuum, ignoring the needs of local communities. It has developed a set of methods – catchy slogans, colourful logos, ‘star-chitects’, bidding for City of Culture status etc. – that are applied as quick-fix solutions regardless of geographical and socio-political contexts.

Critical views of place branding are emerging which focus on its unexplored consequences on the physical and social fabric of places. These more critical approaches reveal place branding as an essentially political activity, serving hidden agendas and marginalizing social groups. Scholars and practitioners can no longer ignore the need for more responsible and socially sensitive approaches to cater for a wider range of stakeholders, and which fully acknowledge the importance of resident participation in decision-making.

The contributions in this innovative book set out to introduce new critical ways of thinking around place branding and practices that encourage it to be more inclusive and participatory. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of branding, critical marketing, and destination marketing as well as critical tourism and environmental design.




FOREWORD: The politics of event-led urban image construction: notes from Beijing and Rio de Janeiro by Anne-Marie Broudehoux

1. Introduction by Maria Lichrou, Mihalis Kavaratzis and Massimo Giovanardi

2. Democracy in participatory place branding: a critical approach by Eva Maria Jernsand and Helena Kraff

3. Critical perspectives on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tourism: towards Indigenous-led approaches by Skye Akbar and Freya Higgins-Desbiolles

4. Place marketing for social inclusion by Aram Eisenschitz

5. A service ecosystem approach to representing a place’s unique brand by Jan Brown

6. Spaces of identity in the city: embracing the contradictions by Cecillia Cassinger and Åsa Thelander

7. Revitalizing the damaged brand: place (re)branding in post-Katrina New Orleans by Kevin Fox Gotham and Katie Irvin

8. Maps and tours as metaphors for conceptualising urban place representation for marketing/branding purposes by Gary Warnaby, Richard Koeck and Dominic Medway

9. Brand conformity in a food place context by Anette Therkelsen

10. Stockholm: the narcissistic capital of Sweden by Johan Gromark

11. A branding stranglehold: the case of Florida’s orange tie by Staci M. Zavattaro and Daniel L. Fay

12. Place branding as political research: from hidden agenda to a framework for analysis by Andrea Lucarelli

13 Conclusions: inclusive place branding – towards an integrative research agenda by Massimo Giovanardi, Maria Lichrou and Mihalis Kavaratzis

CLOSING COMMENTARY: between brand utopias and lived experience by Nadia Kaneva


Mihalis Kavaratzis is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Leicester. A Founding Board Member of the International Place Branding Association, his publications include Towards Effective Place Brand Management (with G. J. Ashworth, 2010) and Rethinking Place Branding (with G. Warnaby and G. J. Ashworth, 2015).

Massimo Giovanardi is Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Leicester. His research examines from a sociological perspective the marketing, communication and consumption of places. He has published in major academic journals such as Annals of Tourism Research and Marketing Theory.

Maria Lichrou is a Lecturer in the Department of Management and Marketing, University of Limerick, Ireland. She has published in the Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Place Management and Development, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Tourism Planning and Development.


Routledge Studies in Critical Marketing

Marketing has been widely criticised as being probably the least self-critical of all the business disciplines and has never really been able to escape the charge that it is socially, ethically and morally barren in certain respects. Marketers may talk about satisfying the customer, about building close relationships with their clientele, about their ethical and corporate social responsibility initiatives, but increasingly these claims are subjected to critical scrutiny and being found wanting. In a social, economic and political environment in which big business and frequently some of the most marketing adept companies’ practices are being questioned, there has emerged a very active community of scholars, practitioners and students interested in Critical Marketing Studies.

Using the types of critical social theory characteristic of Critical Marketing Studies, the aim of this series is to drive the debate on Critical Marketing into the future. It offers scholars the space to articulate their arguments at the level of sophistication required to underscore the contribution of this domain to other scholars, students, practitioners and public-policy groups interested in the influence of marketing in the structuring of the public sphere and society. It aims to be a forum for rigorously theorised, conceptually and empirically rich studies dealing with some element of marketing theory, thought, pedagogy and practice. Studies suitable for this series include theoretical contributions, conceptual elaborations, as well as empirical research that questions current "received wisdom" in marketing and consumer research.




BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / Research
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography





