Place, identity and the socially responsible construction of place brands

Abstract

Social responsibility is a recurrent theme in local-level research on the construction of place brands. Several scholars refer to the difficulties that local populations face when ambitious cities plan to manage and enhance their images. The aim of this article is to find a way of resolving these difficulties, the focus being on the local population as a salient target audience for brand construction. The focal argument is connected to place-related meanings, on which the formation of both images and affective bonds is based. People have a psychological need to bond with their usual environment – in other words, to sense place attachment. The article discusses four meaning dimensions governing the formation of place attachment in the context of brand construction: manageability, continuity, goal support and distinctiveness.