Place branding and growth machines: Implications for spatial planning and urban development

Place branding is increasingly being adopted by cities in advanced economies, with recent evidence suggesting that branding has expanded beyond its traditional role of presenting an image reflective of an existing local identity and is instead now able to play a role in guiding local planning and urban development. As with other elements of contemporary urban development, however, place branding also required scrutiny regarding what configurations of local stakeholders are involved in the branding process as well as the resulting implications for planning and development. In this regard, place branding presents a contemporary example of the growth machine thesis. Using this context, the key stakeholders, their roles, and the implications for spatial planning and urban development due to the configuration of the coalition are explored through a series of in-depth interviews with local officials (n = 18), semi-private economic development practitioners (n = 8), and place branding consultants (n = 10). Findings of the study show that the growth machines are dominated by private-sector stakeholders—in particular consultants—who guide the branding process. As a result, these private-sector actors are setting the broad policies that guide the urban development policies and spatial planning of cities.