Do Cities Have Broad Shoulders? Does Motown Need a Haircut? On Urban Branding and the Personification of Place

摘要

Once regarded as dens of iniquity, injurious to human health and social welfare, cities are increasingly seen as a savior for our species. The world is becoming ever more urban and the benefits of city living - ecological benefits, educational benefits, financial benefits, well-being benefits (Glaeser 2011) - are ever more widely recognized. Marketing too is embracing the urban imperative. Recent years have witnessed a surge in geo-branding and scape-based scholarship generally. This essay reflects on the proliferation of place marketing publications and draws macromarketers' attention to a hitherto overlooked aspect of the literature. Namely, our propensity to personify places, to treat them as living things, as organic entities - as people, in effect - that grow, flourish and finally pass away. Metaphors also suffer from the ravages of time, as do ostensibly healthy academic disciplines like marketing.