LAS CIUDADES A ESCENA
SUMMARIE

Identity and city marketing: place branding
NORBERTO MUÑIZ
MIGUEL CERVANTES

Cities play a key role in modern socio-economic relations within the framework of the world order termed globalization. Urban areas are the nodes where networks of various types of interchange come together: economic, social, cultural, communications and interpersonal. Cities in addition shape their own interchanges between what they can offer and the demands from the various groups within them; these are principally their citizens, but also tourists, institutions and other administrative bodies. This research examines city marketing within a more comprehensive approach of place branding. First, the concept of identity is analysed as a starting reference concept from which to develop an urban marketing and place branding strategy, which is conceived within a broader strategic management framework, and encompasses the physical transformation in urban planning, infrastructures and social aspects. This strategic process ends by implementing communication elements such as slogans and logos,
according to the identity. We study the general evolution of the key urban dimensions, from emphasizing infrastructure and industrial aspects to values and creativity. There are also explored issues arising from urban symbologies, thematic networks among cities and networks of cultural elements which provide international reputation.

The square: visions of multitude and loneliness
FRANZISKA BOLLEREY

How do people relate to cities?. As a whole, cities cannot be experienced at all. Urbanity is concentrated in the city´s public domain and culminates in the public square. Throughout history, squares, the essence of the urban habitat, have had numerous functions. The dynamics of traffic and trade, triggered by commercial and technological innovations, have always impacted the way squares were perceived and represented. Concentrating on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Franziska Bollerey traces the dynamics of perception and representation of the most urban spaces conceivable.

The Fictitious City. Tourist Promotion and Images of Barcelona. Historic Perspective and Current Issues
SAIDA PALOU

Barcelona is an internationally acknowledged tourist destination. The amount of visitors the city receives every year proves it as an appealing destination for tourism. Thus, it can be stated that the city model and brand have become a first class international referent. The positioning process developed in Barcelona is not only undeniable but also admirable. It is obvious that Barcelona’s tourist burst is due to both public and private (local and foreign) efforts involved in the city’s enlargement process, and to the city’s inherent virtues and values, that describe the city as charismatic, special and unique. In the last few years, tourism has become an indisputable part of city life, overlapping different aspects of its reality and greatly committing its financial and social development to tourism. Therefore, it can be said that Barcelona is no longer a city with tourism, but has become a deeply touristic city.

The transformation of Bilbao
ALFONSO MARTÍNEZ CEARRA

The economic and social transformation of metropolitan Bilbao of the recent years has evolved in a similar way to its urban regeneration. In few years, the image of industrial city has been completely changed, combining a regenerated environment with modern architectural elements and a high quality services offer, that have placed Bilbao in the first line of Europe in
terms of strategic revitalisation of metropolitan areas.

Innovation Island. A Strategic Project for Aviles and Asturias
IGNACIO ALCALDE

The project is set as driving force for the regeneration of Aviles so as to support the process of international positioning of Asturias. It is also meant to be a node for leadership programmes and international relations between Spain and Latin-America, designed as a space for innovation, singular activities, and usage fusion, centre of excellence in contemporary culture, symbol for the use of sustainable energies. La Puerta de Avilés and Innovation Island in which a wide programme of extraordinary activities is developed: Óscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre. The government of Principado de Asturias leaders this process of urban transformation, managed by Sogepsa. The project was jointly defined by Aviles City Hall, Infoinvest (SEPI), the Port Authority of Aviles, and the Niemeyer Foundation. A strategy for the transformation of Aviles was arranged, an extraordinary strategic project which defines new opportunities for innovation and development.

Cities on stage heritage with future in capital cities in La Plata
NERY GONZÁLEZ
HORACIO SPINETTO

The La Plata river basin, far from the vision that attracted ancient civilizers, was for a long century a “non profit land”. Due to geopolitical reasons –common for both the Spanish and the Portuguese– the river access to the heart of the continent ought to be controlled. The Jesuist - Guarani experience built a retaining wall against the slave-hunting bandeiras, but in 1680, approximately, the Colony of Sacramento was founded by the crown of Portugal on the opposite bank of the river where Buenos Aires was established. Zabala had to create a fortification in Montevideo. As time went by, two of these cities became capitals, and the third one Patrimony of Humankind.

Competitive metropolitan branding: strategic position of metropolitan regions in northern Europe
PER OLOF BERG

Metropolitan cities are increasingly occupied with selling, marketing, promoting, and branding images of themselves in relation to other competing and collaborating cities around the world. Using the Network of Metropolitan cities in the Baltic Sea region (BaltMet) as its empirical foundation, this article challenges mainstream city-branding theory for neglecting the strategic aspects of branding. What is proposed is instead a view of metropolitan branding as a competitive strategic process, through which cities in simultaneous collaboration and competition which other cities, positions themselves in contexts of which they are themselves co-creators.

Guayaquil’s urban regeneration experience. Project Malecon 2000
LUIS ZULOAGA

Cities are currently reappearing as visible elements of societies. Guayaquil has understood this phenomenon and the city has confronted the urban chaos in which it was involved due to negligent public administrations and to its citizens apathy. The origins of the city are closely related to water, since Guayaquil is surrounded by both the river bank and the estuary. Due to this, it was decided to start the process of regeneration in the area around the city, to continue later towards the city centre. The restoration project Malecón 2000 was set out as a means, not as an end. By focusing on the river, not only was an urban setting recovered, but also its traditions, customs, history, and its inhabitants self-esteem. The project successfully fulfilled its aims, and Malecón 2000 triggered the process of Urban Regeneration developed in the city.

Territorial ethnomarketing: A proposal from regional cultural identity. Research on Manizales’ shops, in Colombia
OLGA LUCÍA GARCÍA CANO
DAGOBERTO PÁRAMO MORALES

Authors show the main theoretical aspects on which this proposal is based.
Territorial ethnomarketing is shown as a channel to regional cultural identity, presenting the case of local grocer’s clients in Manizales as a convincing example of cultural identity. It is expressed through the consumption and the relationship held between city inhabitants and this type of stores which, tied to Colombia’s trade tradition, refuse to disappear.

Kuala Lumpur, emerging international city in the world stage
MOHANAAPRIVA SINA RAJA
PUSHPARANI THILAGANATHAN
NORBERTO MUÑIZ

Kuala Lumpur is an emerging international city in Southeast Asia. The Malaysian capital has grown as the country itself has progressed, whose growth has been high in recent decades. Kuala Lumpur has become an international financial, retail/commercial, and tourism center. Infrastructure developments and public works have been remarkable, and some of these works, like the Petronas Towers, are a globally recognizable urban icon. The challenges of this metropolis are to consolidate its development and international projection with sustainable development, to promote economic development through greater interaction among their communities, and to set up a creative promotion in order to generate international reputation according to its identity and values.

Brands and cities: natural or in vitro?
ANNA DOMINGO

Undoubtedly, during the 20th and 21st centuries, both working and positioning processes in cities have been modernized into scientifically designed brands, developed in strategic laboratories by joint groups of architects, marketing experts and public institutions. The cases of New York, Dubai or Abu Dhabi prove this theory. The former is a harbour city in which trade is incredibly important. New York is geographically positioned as the gateway to America, to freedom and to the American Dream. New York proves to bring arts, business, fashion, trends, literature, music and first class scholars together in a small island, positioning itself as the apple of desire, an almost sinful desire: the no artificially coloured, natural New York brand. Regarding Dubai, its meteoric brand strategy is incontrovertible although, in the end, the user’s experience can be chaotic due to the lack of urban vision and to the uncontrolled enlargement of the city. The latter case, that of Abu Dhabi, is a long-term controlled strategy based on a global vision for 2030. Time will tell whether these cities die of success or not.

Citizens commitment to city branding: A challenge for marketing
ROSA MARÍA CHACÓN

Both the origin and the solution of problems related to the functionality and image of the city affecting its quality of life and productivity can be found in the search for new models of economical and social development, new types of culture and coexistence, new systems of government, as long as in the innovative usage of technology. It is also remarkable the importance of building sustainable cities, based on inclusive and effective management systems. The city’s stakeholders (social, economical, political) are to be co-responsible for the need of being aware of problems and the search for a new local institutionality.