International Symposium on City Marketing and Area Branding, 21st-22nd October, 2010, University of Leon, Spain

摘要

The second annual edition of the International Symposium on City Marketing and Area Branding organised by the University of Leon (Spain), this year attracted a well balanced international panel of academic and practitioner speakers from Europe and Latin America. The audience included not only academics, practitioners and students but uniquely, also residents of the city of Leon. The event was supported by the Latin America-based International Network for Urban Development and Marketing. In his inaugural presentation, Professor Norberto Mufiiz-Martinez (University of Leon, Spain) outlined some of the existing boundaries in academic knowledge and practice related to city marketing and branding with references to specific examples of strategies implemented internationally. This was immediately followed by a critical paper by Professor Laurentino Bello (University of La Corufia, Spain), which placed specific emphasis on the challenges of sustainable city management as well as the 'theme park effect' that many a successful city has fallen into — even with the best city marketing strategies. Specific examples discussed included Venice and Florence (Italy), Barcelona (Spain) and its 1992 Olympic Games, and the challenges of destination marketing and management in cities like Santiago de Compostela (Spain).