This article argues for a narrative approach to the study of urban branding and
planning and presents an analytical framework for understanding narratives and
place. The notion of the `representational logics of urban intervention' captures
this idea that urban branding interventions are guided by certain representations
and embedded in certain norms and values. The analytical framework is applied to a
case study of cultural urban branding, the harbour front in Aalborg, Denmark, where
a number of flagship architecture projects and cultural institutions are planned. It
illustrates the competing stories told by proponents and opponents of the
interventions, and also shows how the relation to place in the stories differs
radically according to their allegiances. The article aims to throwing light on the
complex relationship between story and place.
Aalborg Municipality
(2004a) Visioner for Aalborg Havnefront [Aalborg
Municipality's Visions for the Harbour Front].
Aalborg: Aalborg Municipality
.
2.
Aalborg Municipality
(2004b) Aalborg. Værdier og Vision [Aalborg.
Values and Vision].
Aalborg: Aalborg Municipality
.
3.
Aalborg Municipality
(2005a) Forslag til Hovedstruktur 2005, januar 2005 [Proposal
for Municipal Plan, January 2005].
Aalborg: Aalborg Municipality
.
4.
Aalborg Municipality
(2005b) Forslag til Kommuneplanens Hovedstruktur 2005.
Redegørelse, januar 2005 [Proposal for Municipal Plan, Statement
Section].
Aalborg: Aalborg Municipality
.
5.
Allen, J.
,
Massey, D.
and
Cochrane, A.
(1998) Rethinking the Region.
London : Routledge
.
6.
Andersson, L.
,
Sørensen, O.J.
and
Kiib, H.
(2004) Bazar2 — videns og kulturbaseret
byudvikling .
Aalborg: Institut for Arkitektur & Design
, Skriftserie nr. 4.
7.
Beauregard, R.A.
(2005) `From Place to Site: Negotiating Narrative
Complexity ', in
C.J. Burns
and
A. Kahn
(eds) Site Matters. Design Concepts, Histories, and Strategies,
pp. 39—58.
London: Routledge
.
8.
Bianchini, F.
(1993) `Culture, Conflicts and Cities: Issues and Prospects
for the 1990s', in
F. Bianchini
and
M. Parkinson
(eds) Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration. The West European
Experience, pp. 199—213.
Manchester: Manchester University Press
.
9.
Bianchini, F.
and
Parkinson, M.
(eds) (1993) Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration. The West
European Experience.
Manchester: Manchester University Press
.
10.
Boer, F.
and
Dijkstra, C.
(2003) `Funscapes. The European Leisure Landscape', in
R. Broesi
,
P. Jannink
,
W. Veldhuis
and
I. Nio
(eds) Euroscapes, pp. 167—214.
Amsterdam: MUST Publications
.
11.
Carlberg, N.
and
Christensen, S.M.
(2005) Byliv og havnefront.
Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanums Forlag
.
12.
Caves, R.
(2000) Creative Industries: Contracts between Art and
Commerce.
Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press
.
13.
Czarniawska, B.
(2002) A Tale of Three Cities. On the Glocalization of City
Management.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
.
14.
Czarniawska, B.
(2004) Narratives in Social Research.
London: Sage
.
15.
Dang, S.R.
(2005) `
A Starter Menu for Planner/Artist Collaborations', Planning
, Theory and Practice6(1):
123—6
.
16.
De Certeau, M.
(1984) The Practice of Everyday Life.
Berkeley: University of California Press
.
Eckstein, B.
(2003) `Making Space: Stories in the Practice of
Planning ', in
B. Eckstein
and
J.A. Throgmorton
(eds) Story and Sustainability. Planning, Practice and Possibility for
American Cities, pp. 13—36.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
19.
Eckstein, B.
and
Throgmorton, J.A.
(eds) (2003) Story and Sustainability. Planning, Practice and
Possibility for American Cities.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
20.
Evans, G.
(2001) Cultural Planning. An Urban Renaissance?London: Routledge
.
21.
Finnegan, R.
(1998) Tales of the City. A Study of Narrative and Urban
Life.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
22.
Florida, R.
(2002) The Rise of the Creative Class — and How
It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life.
New York: Basic Books
.
23.
Flyvbjerg, B.
(1998) Rationality and Power. Democracy in Practice.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
24.
Gertler, M.S.
(2004) `Creative Cities: What Are They For, How Do They Work,
and How Do We Build Them?',
Canadian Policy Research Network Inc. (CPRN), Ottawa
, Background Paper F/48.
25.
Gordon, M.
(2005) `
A View from the Pavement
', Planning, Theory and Practice6(1):
119—23
.
26.
Greenberg, M.
(2000) `
Branding Cities. A Social History of the Urban Lifestyle Magazine
', Urban Affairs Review36(2):
228—63
.
27.
Hagerup, U.
(2004) En god idé — fik du den?Copenhagen: Aschehoug
.
28.
Hall, P.
(2000) `
Creative Cities and Economic Development
', Urban Studies37(4):
639—49
.
29.
Harvey, D.
(1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference
.
Oxford: Blackwell
.
30.
Hesmondhalgh, D.
(2000) The Cultural Industries.
London : Sage
.
31.
Jensen, O.B.
(2005) `
Branding the Contemporary City: Urban Branding as Regional Growth Agenda?
', plenary paper for Regional Studies Association Conference
`Regional Growth Agendas', Aalborg, 28—31 May.
32.
Jensen, O.B.
and
Hovgensen, H.H.
(2004) `Broerne i vore hoveder — om forestillede
og relle broer mellem Aalborg og Nørresundby' [The Bridges in our
Minds — On Imagined and Real Bridges between Aalborg and
Nørresundby],
Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg
, Department Working Paper Series No. 296.
33.
Jensen, O.B.
and
Richardson, T.
(2004) Making European Space: Mobility, Power and Territorial
Identity.
London: Routledge
.
34.
Jessop, B.
(1997) `The Entrepreneurial City. Re-imagining Localities,
Redesigning Economic Governance, or Restructuring Capital?', in
N. Jewson
and
S. MacGregor
(eds) Transforming Cities. Contested Governance and New Spatial
Divisions, pp. 28—41.
London: Routledge
.
35.
Kaplan, T.J.
(1993) `Reading Policy Narratives: Beginnings, Middles and
Ends', in
F. Fischer
and
J. Forester
(eds) The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning, pp.
167—85.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
.
36.
Kunzmann, K.
(2004) `
Culture, Creativity and Spatial Planning
', Town Planning Review75(4):
383—404
.
37.
Landry, C.
(2000) The Creative City. A Toolkit for Urban
Innovators .
London: Earthscan
.
38.
Landry, C.
(2005) `
Urban Acupuncture
', Planning, Theory and Practice6(1):
117—18
.
39.
Lefebvre, H.
(1974 [1991]) The Production of Space.
Oxford: Blackwell
40.
Markussen, A.
(2005) `Urban Development and the Politics of a Creative
Class: Evidence from the Study of Artists',
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis
, May.
41.
Markussen, A.
and
King, D.
(2003) `The Artistic Dividend: The Art's Hidden Contributions
to Regional Development',
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis
.
42.
Markussen, A.
,
Schrock, G.
and
Cameron, M.
(2004) `The Artistic Dividend Revisited',
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis
.
43.
Metz, T.
(2002) FUN. Leisure and Landscape.
Rotterdam: NAi Publishers
.
44.
Nordjyllands Amt
(2003) Nordjysk Erhvervsredegørelse 2003. Fra
afvikling til udvikling.
Aalborg: Nordjyllands Amt, Erhvervs-
& Arbejdsmarkeds afdelingen
.
45.
Pine, B.J.
and
Gilmore, J.H.
(1999) The Experience Economy. Work Is Theatre and Every
Business Is a Stage.
Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
.
46.
Richardson, T.
and
Jensen, O.B.
(2003) `
Linking Discourse and Space: Towards a Cultural Sociology of Space in
Analysing Spatial Policy Discourses', UrbanStudies40(1):
7—22
.
47.
Ritzer, G.
(1999) Enchanting a Disenchanted World. Revolutionizing the
Means of Consumption.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press
.
48.
Sandercock, L.
(2003) Cosmopolis II. Mongrel Cities for the 21st
Century .
London: Continuum
.
49.
Sandercock, L.
(2005) `
A New Spin on the Creative City: Artists/Planner Collaborations
', Planning, Theory and Practice6(1):
101—3
.
50.
Sarkissian, W.
(2005) `
Stories in a Park: Giving Voice to the Voiceless in Eagleby, Australia
', Planning, Theory and Practice6(1):
103—17
.
51.
Schulze, G.
(1992) Die Erlebnis Gesellschaft. Kultursoziologie der
Gegenwart.
Frankfurt: Campus
.
52.
Selby, M.
(2004) Understanding Urban Tourism. Image, Culture and
Experience.
London: I. B. Tauris
.
53.
Shaw, K.
(2005) `
Don't Try This at Home
', Planning, Theory and Practice6(1):
126—8
.
54.
Shields, R.
(1991) Places on the Margin. Alternative Geographies of
Modernity.
London: Routledge
.
55.
Short, J.R.
(1999) `Urban Imagineers: Boosterism and the Representation
of Cities', in
A.E.G. Jonas
and
D. Wilson
(eds) The Urban Growth Machine. Critical Perspectives, Two Decades
Later, pp. 37—54.
New York : State University of New York Press
.
56.
Simonsen, K.
(2005) Byens mange ansigter — konstruktion af byen
i praksis og fortælling.
Roskilde: Roskilde Universitetsforlag
.
57.
Soja, E.W.
(1996) Thirdspace. Journeys to Los Angeles and Other
Real-and-Imagined Places.
Oxford: Blackwell
.
58.
Soja, E.W.
(2003) `Tales of a Geographer-Planner', in
B. Eckstein
and
J.A. Throgmorton
(eds) Story and Sustainability. Planning, Practice and Possibility for
American Cities, pp. 207—24.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
59.
Stevenson, D.
(2003) Cities and Urban Cultures.
Maidenhead: Open University Press
.
60.
Thorsby, D.
(2001) Economics and Culture.
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
.
61.
Throgmorton, J.A.
(1993) `Survey Research as Rhetorical Trope: Electric Power
Planning in Chicago', in
F. Fischer
and
J. Forester
(eds) The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning, pp.
117—44.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
.
62.
Zukin, S.
(1988) Loft Living. Cultural and Capital in Urban
Change .
London: Radius
.
