Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
all is the findings of some studies that one of the
prime motives for city marketing strategies is that
everyone (or every place) else does it (Holcomb
1994), suggesting that the participants are playing
a zero-sum game.
Of equal concern are the generally negative
conclusions from some case studies of the impact
of marketing strategies on local populations,
especially in terms of the economic benefits that
are claimed for such strategies. A number of studies
do, in fact, question the efficacy of the
entrepreneurial approach inherent in most city
marketing exercises (Levine 1987; Leitner and
Garner 1993). The nature of employment
generated may have little relevance for pre-
existing labour markets, and where marketing
strategies are accompanied by large-scale physical
redevelopment the impact can be detrimental. For
example, 'far from producing a trickle down of
economic benefits to local communities,
property-led regeneration…can make life even
more difficult for small local businesses and low-
income residents' (Bianchini
et al
. 1992: p. 252).
More recently, there have been some direct
attempts to analyse the social and political impact
of city marketing strategies upon local populations
and the main conclusions appear to suggest a
diversity of response. For example, in a review of
eight case studies of city 'hallmark' events, Boyle
(1997) has identified the highly complex range of
reactions to such events manifested by local
populations.
or complex products. Many critics argue that it is
only a partial and sanitised version of a
multifaceted reality that enters into the
consciousness of the marketing experts (Rutheiser
1996).
This relates to a second paradox, which is
concerned with the relationship between 'image'
and reality and what this means for local
populations. Self-evidently, the former has come
to dominate city marketing (see Plate 36.1) to the
extent that moral questions are raised about the
manipulation of places and, more importantly, the
people who live in them. The precise meaning and
significance of an 'improved' or even altered image
soon becomes problematic when one asks in
whose interests the 'image' is altered. It has been
suggested that the creation of a new image for a
place may be a form of social control, designed to
create unity or a shared sense of identity within a
specific place but also serving to subdue internal
discord or polarisation— factors that could be
harmful to business confidence (Harvey 1989;
Sadler 1993). However, studies of the reactions of
local populations that have experienced major
civic boosterism campaigns suggest a diversity of
outcomes. Although studies ofVancouver (Ley and
Olds 1988), Detroit (Neill 1995) and Birmingham,
UK. (Hubbard 1996), suggest that local people
were broadly positive or, in the case of the latter,
neutral in their response to civic boosterism
projects. In Belfast (Neill 1993) and Glasgow
(Boyle and Hughes 1991), certain groups with
strong historical roots actively opposed the
'reading' of history represented by the boosterism
agenda. In Milwaukee (Kenney 1995),
Indianapolis (Wilson 1993) and Atlanta (Rutheiser
1996), some local groups directly challenged
events on the grounds of contemporary economic
and political realities.
Continuing with the theme of the projection
of the 'image' of places, a further paradox has
already become apparent, namely that
'promotional repertoires of many cities…bear
significant similarities with each other' (Holcomb
1994: p. 125). Even in the absence of such
promotional activity, it is the case that a
convergence of urban form and structure is
THE PROBLEMATIC NATURE OF CITY
MARKETING
It will be apparent that city marketing is a highly
problematic activity that gives rise to a number of
contentious issues. Within both the activity itself
and its academic study there are a number of
paradoxes. Most fundamentally, it may be
questioned whether or not a 'place', which is
constituted of a multitudinous set of
characteristics, many of which are themselves
inherently contradictory and in conflict, can be
'marketed' in the same sense as much less diffuse
