Ares Kalandides

The problem with spatial identity: revisiting the “sense of place”

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, it is to contribute to a sound conceptualization of the notion of place identity in the context of geographical spatial approaches; on the other, it is to show the implications this has in place branding research.Design/methodology/approach – First, the paper draws from place branding literature to point out the lack of a conceptualization of place identity, second, it presents the case study of Prenzlauer Berg to show how place identity is constituted. Finally, these findings are linked to literature about the constitution of space and place.Findings – The concept of spatial identity suffers under the anthropomorphism of the term identity. Only in a sound conceptual framework and through a method mix it is possible to understand how the specificity of space is constituted.Research limitations/implications – The case study that is the base of this conceptual paper is a neighbourhood. There is a need to further discuss the issue of scale, i.e...

Berlin's Creative Industries: Governing Creativity?

This paper aims at discussing the issue of governing creativity exemplifying the case of Berlin. Berlin has a fast growing creative industry that has become the object of the citys development policies and place marketing. The core question is: What are the spatial‐organizational driving forces of creativity in Berlin—can they be steered by public administration? The point of departure of this paper is the four “paradoxes of creativity” formulated by DeFillippi, Grabher and Jones in 2007 that describe organizational dilemmas linked to epistemological problems of the study of creativity. For our analyses, we refer to and make use of the various existing databases and recent studies on Berlins creative industries, in particular the attempts of the Berlin Senate to assess the economic contribution of creative industries. We will show the potential for self‐organization—and thus self‐governance—of creativity and creative industries in Berlin. This potential is linked to the activities of communities of practice that make use of Berlins specific urban fabric. The “paradoxes of creativity” that have become obvious in the case of Berlins creative industries concern, for instance, the tension between the autonomy of creative production, on the one hand, and the necessities of professionalization on the other. The local communities of practice—of which most of Berlins creative industries are made—serve both as quality evaluation circles and drivers of creativity and innovation.

Rethinking the place brand: the interactive formation of place brands and the role of participatory place branding

This article attempts to ‘rethink’ place brands after examining in detail how people form them in their minds. The article starts with a very brief account of the place branding literature to provide the necessary background and goes on to identify what we see as a shortcoming in current understanding of the place brand: the dominant idea that brands are formed as sums of mental associations. The article attempts to take current understanding of place brands further by going beyond associations and adding a missing element: the interactions between those associations. We propose a rethinking of place brands based on two pillars: first we incorporate more geographical understanding into place branding and, second, we outline a process that allows place elements and placebased associations to combine and form the place brand. The place brand formation process starts when people use place-making elements (materiality, practices, institutions and representations) to form mental associations with the place. These associations are not static but evolve and change over time as they interact with each other on several dimensions. These interactions constitute the way in which the place brand is formed. The argumentation leads to a novel conceptualization of the role of place branding in the above processes. The practical applicability and implications of the proposed rethinking of place brands suggested here are explored in detail through the examination of the branding process followed recently in Bogotá, Colombia, where our approach to place branding has found practical application.

City marketing for Bogotá: a case study in integrated place branding

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bring together theory and practice of place branding/marketing from a practitioners point of view. It is a critical assessment of the recent place marketing strategy for the city of Bogota, Colombia.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a case study, that of the place marketing strategy for Bogota. After a description of the initial task for city officials and the consultant, the paper presents the process of designing the strategy, focusing on citizen participation. It describes the inherent difficulties and tensions of any similar task and the practical compromises that had to be reached. Finally these findings are discussed again in a theoretical context, integrating place branding with other planning and positioning measures.Findings – Place branding can indeed be a useful tool for place development, if it is understood as one possible tool of policy making and is incorporated in a broader conceptualization of the relationship among places, not ...

‘Ethnic’ neighbourhoods? Practices of belonging and claims to the city

The formation or consolidation of ‘ethnic’ neighbourhoods in European cities has made ethnic/racial differences more visible in urban space and has brought back to the forefront of both academic and political debate questions about the spatial concentration of ‘strangers’ (segregation), citizenship rights and ‘integration’. The women and men who live in the city have, or may claim, a right to the city that includes on the one hand the right to appropriate urban space and on the other hand the right to participate in its production and in decisions about it but also in (re)defining patterns of living it. In this context, migrants reconfigure the meanings of belonging against dominant spatializations through their everyday practices. Moreover, more or less institutionalized forms of political participation create new spatial levels of citizenship not limited to the scale of the nation-state. Interactions among migrants and locals continuously redefine the subject of rights as they activate processes of access, participation and inclusion/exclusion in/from the urban public sphere. This paper discusses these processes and terms, drawing on examples from Berlin and Athens. We focus in particular on neighbouring as the space and resource of belonging and on how this is related to participation and urban citizenship. The two cities offer different contexts in which institutional policies, informal practices and claims for participation at the neighbourhood level define, in different ways, citizenship as a spatial strategy and help qualify the content of the ‘right to the city’.

New urban governance approaches for knowledge‐based industries in multiplicities

Purpose – European metropolises nowadays are struggling even more to attract highly mobile creative as well as knowledge‐based industries. In many European cities, the ongoing socio‐economic transformation of inner‐city brownfields enables metropolises to allocate new economies within these inner‐city spaces. The purpose of this paper is to observe impressive infrastructural projects, e.g. Stuttgart 21, Hamburg HafenCity – aiming at attracting and allocating knowledge and creative industries in the inner‐city for the purpose of strengthening its core.Design/methodology/approach – Two of these large empty inner‐city slots can be found in Berlin (Tempelhof) and in Graz (Reininghaus). The first one is a former airport in the inner‐city area of Berlin, the second one a former brewery located in the inner‐city of Graz, Austria. In this paper, these projects are analysed by focussing on governance and urban management approaches, which seek to accommodate creative and knowledge‐intensive industries as well as t...

Shopping districts and centres, markets, neighbourhoods, public squares, and urban gardens: Reflecting upon place management practice in Berlin

The Study Trip to Berlin was the first of its kind to be organised by the Institute of Place Management. Sixteen delegates from eight countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Singapore and UK) met in Berlin to participate in an intensive programme of lectures, visits and discussions. The idea behind this format, one of the educational courses of the IPM, is to offer new insights, but also to facilitate knowledge exchange between members. It is one of the guiding principles of the Institute that we investigate challenges and provide answers in the specificity of place and support people in places. Consequently, a series of visits were arranged to explore not just the management of different areas of Berlin, but also different types and approaches to place management.

Practices of solidarity in Athens: reconfigurations of public space and urban citizenship

Abstract The multi-faceted crisis that has hit Greece and other (southern) European countries has had severe consequences on people’s everyday lives. In an attempt to cope with, but also resist, dramatic changes in lifestyles, incomes and welfare, several initiatives have sprung up all over the country at many different scales, with diverse targets, varying actors and outcomes. Many people have abandoned their privacy to participate in public actions of solidarity, in initiatives that often involve new or alternative uses of urban space. It seems that practices of solidarity and claims around material spaces are becoming an important ‘laboratory’ for shaping a different public sphere. Drawing from relevant examples in Athens, the paper aims to reflect on the ways in which such practices and claims arise and develop; how different types of rights and forms of doing politics are enacted in situations of crisis and deprivation; and finally how such practices reconfigure public space and shape notions of belonging, which ultimately (re)define urban citizenship.