Aesthetics, the appearance and visual representations of place, play an important role in any environment. In urban settings especially, resident’s values of city appearance can influence (and be influenced by) city policy, such as urban growth boundaries or development zoning; individual values, such as sustainable or ‘green city’ values; urban planning, such as walkable neighborhoods and bike lanes; and economics, such as a marketable and unique tourism culture. Research around the roles of aesthetics in urban settings has been explored in many contexts, ranging from the use of the deterioration in Detroit as an attractive tourism aesthetic (Tegtmeyer 2016), to the replication of traditional Chinese gardens in the urban environment of Changzhou, China (Yao 2012). Paul Gobster (1999) wrote about how “people often form perceptions of a place based on what they see and experience from an aesthetic point of view” (p. 54), a perception which can greatly affect the decisions they make about that place and is by no means restrained within urban borders.
Place branding as ‘a network of associations in the consumers’ mind based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place, which is embodied through the aims, communication, values, and the general culture of the place’s stakeholders and the overall place design’ (Zenker and Braun 2010. p. 5). City branding can encompass anything from city-wide fashion trends, social media representations, corporate branding schemes, and city government branding initiatives. Place branding is given the role to (a) define the identity, (b) identify ways in which the defined identity is relevant to several audiences, and (c) attempt to convince these audiences that this is the case (Kavaratzis & Hatch 2013. p.74).
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