Speaker
Description
This paper explores the intricate relationship between city branding/ marketing, urban tourism and urban planning, emphasizing the need for effective collaboration between practitioners and academics in the context of Greek cities. Despite the potential benefits, tensions often arise between city branding strategies and urban development policies.
Research Purpose: The research aims to understand the challenges and successes of implementing city branding/ marketing strategies (incorporating tourism) within urban planning frameworks in Greece, highlighting the gaps between theory and practice.
Methodology: To bring new light to research done in previous years, a meta-analytical approach was implemented in selected research that has been conducted by the Laboratory of Tourism Planning, Research and Policy, Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Volos, utilizing case studies from two medium-sized cities, Larissa and Kozani, and the centre of Athens. Participants included local officials, stakeholders, and community members, who were consulted mainly through the Goal Oriented Project Planning (GOPP) procedure in Larissa and Kozani. In these cities, a mixed-methods research design was employed. Athens was a more complex case in which interviews were mostly applied.
Principal Results: Findings reveal that local governance structures in Greece struggle to adapt to modern branding tools, leading to non-implemented plans (‘autonomous’ city marketing plans in Larissa and Kozani, as well as a new type of urban plan, the Integrated Urban Intervention Plan (SOAP) for the centre of Athens) and a lack of strategic clarity. Larissa and Kozani’s collaborative approach with the municipality yielded more comprehensive insights into community needs, while Athens faced challenges due to a more top-down strategy.
Major Conclusions: The study underscores the necessity of effective governance and multi-stakeholder engagement in enhancing city branding and urban tourism efforts. It suggests that urban planning can benefit significantly from city branding/ marketing principles, advocating for a shift towards a more inclusive and adaptive governance structure in Greek cities. Furthermore, the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in city branding, urban tourism, and urban planning dilemmas, particularly linked to urban governance, is an exciting prospect, including problems that must be explored.
References
Deffner, Alex, Karachalis, Nicholas, Psatha, Eva, Metaxas, Theodore, & Sirakoulis, Kleanthis (2019). City marketing and planning in two Greek cities: plurality or constraints? European Planning Studies, 28(7), 1333–1354. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1701291
Deffner Alex, Skayiannis, Pantoleon, Economou, Dimitris (2019). Can a new type of plan respond to the crisis of the city centre? The case of the Integrated Urban Intervention Plan (SOAP) for the city centre of Athens, ETH Seminar Week 21/10/2019, Athens.
Sirakoulis, K. and Deffner, A. (2020) Can research methods replace the strategy? Designing and implementing city marketing research in two Greek cities: advantages and disadvantages. In Foroudi, P., Nguyen, B. and Melewar, T.C. (ed.) Multi-Stakeholder Communication: Emerging Issues for Corporate Identity, Branding and Reputation, Emerald Publishing, Leeds, pp. 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-897-520221025.
| Keywords | city branding/ marketing; urban tourism; urban planning; urban governance; Greece |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
