Place Brands as Strategic Atmospheres
(2023) The Annual Conference of the International Place Branding Association- Abstract
- • Aim
The aim of this study is to unravel the potential of atmospheric thinking for place brand communication research. As such, it explores how place branding can be understood as a process of communicatively crafting ‘strategic atmospheres’, namely as a process of constituting specific affective and sensory relatings to urban space.
• Theoretical framework
The theoretical argument is informed by both communication theory and spatial theory, paying particular attention to the potentiality of combining an affective communication perspective (Ashcraft 2021) with atmospheric theorizing (Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos 2016; Sumartojo and Pink 2019; Bille and Simonsen 2021).
• Main research approach
The study... (More) - • Aim
The aim of this study is to unravel the potential of atmospheric thinking for place brand communication research. As such, it explores how place branding can be understood as a process of communicatively crafting ‘strategic atmospheres’, namely as a process of constituting specific affective and sensory relatings to urban space.
• Theoretical framework
The theoretical argument is informed by both communication theory and spatial theory, paying particular attention to the potentiality of combining an affective communication perspective (Ashcraft 2021) with atmospheric theorizing (Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos 2016; Sumartojo and Pink 2019; Bille and Simonsen 2021).
• Main research approach
The study relies on qualitative empirical materials collected in the Italian city of Venice in order to advance its theoretical proposition. Specifically, it takes into account how place branding strategies in the city have adjusted in relation to sea level rise as an exponential threat to Venice’s brand as a safe and alluring touristic destination.
• Key arguments/findings
Preliminary findings reveal how the strategic depiction of sea level rise in Venice fosters the enactment of particular affective practices aimed at maintaining an authentic atmosphere of the city, alongside the rejection and regulation of alternative modes of feeling and experiencing rising waters.
• Conclusions
This study concludes place brand communication could be seen as the mean through which specific ideas of how climate vulnerable cities should look and feel like are formed, maintained and continuously being contested in the everyday experience of these wounded places.
• Practical implications
This study enriches current understandings of the ways branding strategies can be deployed to communicate environmental phenomena in climate vulnerable urban areas.
• References
Ashcraft, Karen. 2021. Communication as Constitutive Transmission? An Encounter with Affect. Communication Theory, 31: 571-592.
Bille, Mikkel and Simonsen, Kirsten. 2021. Atmospheric Practices: On Affecting and Being Affected. Space and Culture, 24(2): 295–309.
Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Andreas. 2016. Withdrawing from Atmosphere: An Ontology of Air Partitioning and Affective Engineering. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 34(1): 150–167
Sumartojo, Shanti and Pink, Sarah. 2019. Atmospheres and the Experiential World. Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/18b49a13-4510-4de2-b798-ff78f71246a6
- author
- Porzionato, Monica LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- The Annual Conference of the International Place Branding Association
- conference location
- Helsingborg, Sweden
- conference dates
- 2023-10-18 - 2023-10-20
- project
- Rethinking urban tourism development: Dealing with sustainability in the age of over-tourism
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 18b49a13-4510-4de2-b798-ff78f71246a6
- date added to LUP
- 2023-05-15 14:46:32
- date last changed
- 2024-02-22 08:17:59
@misc{18b49a13-4510-4de2-b798-ff78f71246a6,
abstract = {{• Aim<br/>The aim of this study is to unravel the potential of atmospheric thinking for place brand communication research. As such, it explores how place branding can be understood as a process of communicatively crafting ‘strategic atmospheres’, namely as a process of constituting specific affective and sensory relatings to urban space. <br/><br/>• Theoretical framework <br/>The theoretical argument is informed by both communication theory and spatial theory, paying particular attention to the potentiality of combining an affective communication perspective (Ashcraft 2021) with atmospheric theorizing (Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos 2016; Sumartojo and Pink 2019; Bille and Simonsen 2021). <br/><br/>• Main research approach <br/>The study relies on qualitative empirical materials collected in the Italian city of Venice in order to advance its theoretical proposition. Specifically, it takes into account how place branding strategies in the city have adjusted in relation to sea level rise as an exponential threat to Venice’s brand as a safe and alluring touristic destination.<br/><br/>• Key arguments/findings<br/>Preliminary findings reveal how the strategic depiction of sea level rise in Venice fosters the enactment of particular affective practices aimed at maintaining an authentic atmosphere of the city, alongside the rejection and regulation of alternative modes of feeling and experiencing rising waters.<br/><br/>• Conclusions<br/>This study concludes place brand communication could be seen as the mean through which specific ideas of how climate vulnerable cities should look and feel like are formed, maintained and continuously being contested in the everyday experience of these wounded places.<br/><br/>• Practical implications<br/>This study enriches current understandings of the ways branding strategies can be deployed to communicate environmental phenomena in climate vulnerable urban areas. <br/><br/>• References<br/><br/>Ashcraft, Karen. 2021. Communication as Constitutive Transmission? An Encounter with Affect. Communication Theory, 31: 571-592.<br/><br/>Bille, Mikkel and Simonsen, Kirsten. 2021. Atmospheric Practices: On Affecting and Being Affected. Space and Culture, 24(2): 295–309.<br/><br/>Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Andreas. 2016. Withdrawing from Atmosphere: An Ontology of Air Partitioning and Affective Engineering. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 34(1): 150–167<br/><br/>Sumartojo, Shanti and Pink, Sarah. 2019. Atmospheres and the Experiential World. Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge.<br/>}},
author = {{Porzionato, Monica}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Place Brands as Strategic Atmospheres}},
year = {{2023}},
}