Place identities of transforming port-city areas

Abstract

The municipality of Stockholm is currently working on one of Stockholm’s most extensive and complex urban areas: The Stockholm Royal Seaport (se: Norra Djurgårdsstaden). The area is an example of how a former industrial port area is being transformed into a sustainable urban district. Because of the transformation of the area, the identity of the place is slowly changing to something different. Place identity is a two-way relationship in which a place influences people and where people tend to change and create the place in a way that represents them. This research wants to get insights on the place identities of the municipality of Stockholm and the residents of the Stockholm Royal Seaport, to see how synergies can be created between them. The four elements of Amundsen (2001) are used to assess and define the place identities and allow to understand what makes the areas distinctive compared to other places. With these insights, the aim of the research is to provide the municipality with recommendations for the further place branding and development of the Stockholm Royal Seaport, as many scholars argue that the identity of a place should be the base of a place branding strategy. This is important to consider as the place brand should be representative to all segments of the area, especially as it has the potential to affect the place identity over time.

The results of the interviews with the residents of the Stockholm Royal Seaport imply that they mainly define their place identities on spatial qualities that distinguish the place from others. Also, the characteristics or qualities of the inhabitants indicated to be important, as most responses were about the many children in the area. This element also raised awareness on the inclusivity of areas such as the Stockholm Royal Seaport. The comparison of the place identities of the municipality of Stockholm and the residents of the Stockholm Royal Seaport led to the insights that the social needs of residents without children should be considered, more efforts should be made on the socio-economic level of the area, there should be more attention to the unique location of the area and the knowledge on the sustainability of the residents needs to be improved. The element of culture and history is underrepresented in the place identities of the residents, but both the municipality and residents expect that the further development of the area might bring more awareness to this. This shows that it is important to keep monitoring and managing the place identities in transformative port-city areas. It also implies that the local unique elements are defining for the area and should be the driver of the place branding strategies of the municipality, especially as more cities are developing their former industrial port areas into urban districts.