City Marketing
The idea of City Marketing and City Management has been implemented by many especially medium-sized cities throughout germany within the last years. The tearm City Management is usually used in Germany for Stadtmarketing activities.
In Germany City Management (Stadtmarketing) is often understood as a strategy for
- cooperative city development
- improvement of the city and its achievements for citizens and visitors
- improvement of communication and to establish long-term partnerships between various participants within the city
The philosophy behind could be described as follows:
- regard the city as one complete organism
- intergrate peripheral quarters in the strategy
- cooperation within different participants
- trying to improve the quality of living within the city
Organisation:
There are three possible forms of organisation:
- organsiation within the communal administration
- private organisation
- committee from different urban participants
Usually the city administration is financing the activities with a percentage rate ranging up to more than 50% of the overall budget.
In some cities the tourist department and the city management is organised in one institution.
For UNESCO World Heritage Cities, the City Management can be one partner to develop strategies for a sustainable city development.
One of the few City Marketing Organisations that have information in english online are the City Marketing Basel in Switzerland and the Gelsenkirchen City Marketing.
The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has a much broader approach.
1 Richard Layman from Washington, DC wrote on 14.06.2005:
You might find some of the writings in my blog to be of interest, although I will say that my blog is very North American-centric because that's where I am (although I do have ideas about applying to the UN University PhD program in urban ecosystems). I write about historic preservation, planning, transportation, arts and cultural development, and tourism. WRT your point about "city marketing," something that I find interesting is the concept of "destination management" and in the Main Street commercial district revitalization world (see www.mainstreet.org) I coined the phrase "we are all destination managers now" whether or not we're seeking tourists to our commercial districts. I added a link to your blog in my set of links on historic preservation, and you might find some of the links in my section on Tourism Research to be of interest to you as well.
2 Matthias Ripp from Bamberg wrote on 14.06.2005:
@Richard Layman: Thank you for your comment. I appreciate it! Your blog is very interesting and useful! I will stick to it! Isn't it a petty that in the US so many World Class Cultural Sites are NOT in the UNESCO World Heritage List? I was stunned on my trip to Chicago in April with the quality of architecture!
3 Richard Layman from Washington, DC wrote on 14.06.2005:
Well, we aren't quite on the scale of cities in Europe... but we still have interesting cities, Chicago and New York being premier examples. I like Washington.... I think our lack of participation in UNESCO World Heritage probably stems from a couple things. One is the difficulty people in the U.S. have in thinking of themselves as citizens of the world, and the tension between the nation and "nefarious" "world government" as expressed by the US's sorry record with regard to participation in and funding of the UN. The other is what I think of as "the cult of the new". Since the American ethos is to a large extent typified by a belief that "new is good and better" almost by definition the old is to be discarded, not revered, making it difficult to make the case for heritage preservation. This problem is extended through the lack of systematic exposure to art and architecture. We do have a strong preservation movement, but even in DC, where architecture and history are the defining elements of the city's "competitive advantage", this is an uphill battle (as you can see through various entries in my weblog). This is further complicated by the conservative movement about property rights. Increasingly historic preservation laws, which are concerned in part with the impact of individual decisions on the community, are under attack at both the local and national levels.
Thanks.
4 Matthias Ripp from Bamberg wrote on 14.06.2005:
@Richard Layman:Very interesting. I thought more of certain highlights of architecture that are worth considering to be included in the WHList, like Falling Water, The Chicago Tribune Tower, etc.
The ideas of this architects spread over the world (including good old europe...).
I believe that the problem with new and old is different in the US than in Europe. But we do have the similar problems in germany with the support of heritage preservation. Budgets are cut back everywhere. It seems like after the peak of preservation in 1975 with the European Architectural Heritage Year now the support for preservation efforts is declining more and more. Plus the fact the throughout europe economy is not really strong at the moment, which puts a lot of pressure on the development of new (industrial, commercial, etc.) buildings.
Just recently there was an interestng conference in Vienna about contemporary architecture in WHCities.