THE MASTERS IN SPATIAL PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN AT LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY IS WORKING TO REVIVE THE NOTION OF THE PLANNER-ARCHITECT AND BRING PROPOSITIONAL PLANNING BACK TO THE FRONT OF URBAN PLACE SHAPING.
IT IS TAUGHT IN COLLABORATION WITH DESIGN FOR LONDON AND IS CONCEIVED TO SPECULATE NEW SPATIAL PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN PRACTICE, AND RESPOND TO SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL REALITIES WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON LONDON
No, I don't think it can. I am very familiar with the 'Made In Sheffield' branding of my home town, a brand which has been internationally famous for many years, the idea, however, wears very thin on the ground... For instance, Swann Morton manufacture 90% of the blades used by the NHS and are based in Sheffield. They rely more heavily on their own name as brand rather than the 'Made In Sheffield' mark, which they do, however retain on their products. Branding a place, or, re-branding it as is mostly the case depends on some interest to the target audience in that place firstly... Shoreditch is Shoreditch, it doesn't need a brand, this is why we are most cynical about Box Park, which assumes the Shoreditch brand in built form. You can't re-brand Tottenham as Shoreditch, it isn't, it has its own qualities, it has negatives and people will try and shift the brand perception from the recent riots, but this is not what Tottenham is known for... To confuse matters worse, an example of this perception staying the same comes from before the second world war, where Hitler was very and publicly confident that the aristocracy of Britain would join his cause, we nearly did with Lord Halifax and the like... Still, now we are much more favourable of the Germans, even though there is some comic differences, than the French, who have been our allies for much longer. So, it is much more important to discover and understand the things that make a place what it is, and not look to brand it as something we wish it to be.
I'm sure an entire profession of marketing consultants and new media gurus are gasping in shock at that.
Whilst I tend to agree it's about the place not the brand, I think there is some merit to the branding idea. You can't apply a brand to an area but if you do discover what makes a place unique, developing this into a strong brand can help solidify this into something that can be promoted and identified more easily than the complex effects and interactions that truly make a place what it is.
Shoreditch is a brand - people know it means cool & hipster even if they haven't been there and don't know what it is really like or even know where it is. It works both ways though, you say Tottenham people now think riots and not the vibrant communities that are there.
No, I don't think it can.
ReplyDeleteI am very familiar with the 'Made In Sheffield' branding of my home town, a brand which has been internationally famous for many years, the idea, however, wears very thin on the ground... For instance, Swann Morton manufacture 90% of the blades used by the NHS and are based in Sheffield. They rely more heavily on their own name as brand rather than the 'Made In Sheffield' mark, which they do, however retain on their products.
Branding a place, or, re-branding it as is mostly the case depends on some interest to the target audience in that place firstly... Shoreditch is Shoreditch, it doesn't need a brand, this is why we are most cynical about Box Park, which assumes the Shoreditch brand in built form.
You can't re-brand Tottenham as Shoreditch, it isn't, it has its own qualities, it has negatives and people will try and shift the brand perception from the recent riots, but this is not what Tottenham is known for...
To confuse matters worse, an example of this perception staying the same comes from before the second world war, where Hitler was very and publicly confident that the aristocracy of Britain would join his cause, we nearly did with Lord Halifax and the like... Still, now we are much more favourable of the Germans, even though there is some comic differences, than the French, who have been our allies for much longer.
So, it is much more important to discover and understand the things that make a place what it is, and not look to brand it as something we wish it to be.
I'm sure an entire profession of marketing consultants and new media gurus are gasping in shock at that.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I tend to agree it's about the place not the brand, I think there is some merit to the branding idea. You can't apply a brand to an area but if you do discover what makes a place unique, developing this into a strong brand can help solidify this into something that can be promoted and identified more easily than the complex effects and interactions that truly make a place what it is.
Shoreditch is a brand - people know it means cool & hipster even if they haven't been there and don't know what it is really like or even know where it is. It works both ways though, you say Tottenham people now think riots and not the vibrant communities that are there.