Why places rebrand
All about images
image depends upon how people perceive place
no. of seperate images then come together to form a collective view of particular place
place's brand is popular image pace has acquired + by which it is generally recognised
both objective aspects such as location but also subjective ones- such as atmosphere etc.
If place acquired a neg brand then rebranding attempted
Not a new phenomenon
after great fire London 1666
Christopher Wren drew up master plan which involved redding city of its medieval narrow streets + alleys
Vision was a number of large piazzas linked in a geometric manner by wide, long boulevards
However, plans were contested + little of the original plan was completed
UK 60s and 70s
attempted to rebalance the country's spatial economy
by relocating public and private sector employment from London and the southeast - peripherals regions places like south Wale + Merseyside
Most peripheral regions suffered from a neg image due to declining heavy industry etc.
Ad campaigns were run to try to reimage + rebrand theses places
Investment
Globalisation means places are competing not just regionally but nationally + internationally for investment
might be from the private sector such as a TNC or from gov. body- e.g. trans-national gov. (EU e.g.)
Places seek to rebrand cos their current brand is failing to attract sufficient investment
involves 3 key elements
Brand artefact
physical environment
such as indiv building, the built environment (e.g. city scapes)
features in a rural areas such as dry stone walls or evidence of former industry such as waste tips