Comparing city image and brand identity in polycentric regions using network analysis

Comparing city image and brand identity in polycentric regions using network analysis

Wäckerlin, Niels (Student TU Delft)
Hoppe, T. (TU Delft Organisation & Governance)
Warnier, Martijn (TU Delft System Engineering)
de Jong, W. Martin (Rotterdam School of Management)

2019

In a globalising world, cities find themselves competing for visitors, residents, investors, and companies. They use place branding strategies to become more visible. However, conceptual and analytical confusion exists on the subjects of place image and brand identity, and current studies are limited to single cities, neglecting inter-city relationships at the regional level. In this paper, we examine how place image and brand identity of cities in polycentric regions can be compared with each other. Inspired by Zenker and Beckmann’s network analysis approach for studying place branding (J Place Manag Dev 6(1): 6–17, 2013), a method is introduced to compare image and identity networks for polycentric regions. We use this to complement traditional steps of concept mapping (i.e. elicitation, mapping, and aggregation), and apply it to analyse the illustrative case of four cities in the MRDH region within the Netherlands. Results of the comparative analysis between the image network and the identity network provide both visual and quantitative insights revealing structural differences. The network analysis research approach can be useful to both policy-makers and researchers in analysing city image and brand identity, and to develop place branding strategies accordingly, even at the regional level.

Brand identity
City branding
Network analysis
Place image
Polycentric regions

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a8ddc99d-76bc-4bc6-b21b-6d703d67880c

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-019-00128-4

2019-12-18

1751-8040

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 16 (1), 80-96

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2019 Niels Wäckerlin, T. Hoppe, Martijn Warnier, W. Martin de Jong