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ABSTRACT
A growing number of cities around the world have taken advantage of their green image of the purpose of place branding. In the research literature, it is suggested that these practices are motivated by place-based competition over financial and social capital, combined with more holistic motives of sustainable urban development. However, although an increasing number of green cities are engaged in place branding, few studies have researched the impact of place branding on environmental policy-making in a city, building up to the question: how is local environmental policy-making affected by green place branding? Addressing this issue, this paper critically investigates how the continuity of local environmental policy-making is affected by place-branding practices. To tackle this task, the paper firstly develops an analytical framework aiming to understand how green cities emerge and become famous based on their policy-making. Secondly, using that framework, this paper present an in-depth case study of a city branding itself as the ‘Greenest City in Europe’. Drawing on the growing body of work on green cities, this paper investigates the ‘understudied’ practice of using policy for the purpose of place branding as well as the impact of place branding ‘on the environment’.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Josefina Syssner, Brita Hermelin, Thomas Wimark, Laura James and Ian R. Cook for their valuable comments on previous drafts on this paper. Thanks are also due to all the informants who have most generously volunteered their time for interviews and study tours. The usual disclaimers apply.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. The word ‘green’ is throughout the text referencing the popular use of this term as a synonym to urban sustainability and environmental policy.
2. The term ‘green city’ produced 2,600 hits in a search of the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (22 December 2014).
3. For this analytical framework, a large number of articles published in the field of urban studies have been reviewed. The analysis has focused on more recent publications (from 2005 and onwards, with a few exceptions) presenting best practice case studies and policy recommendation papers available through the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (22 December 2014).
4. Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011; Interview F; Head of the Department, Växjö municipality, 24 January 2011; Interview D; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 9 May 2014.
5. Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview D; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 9 May 2014; Interview G; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 16 May 2014; Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
6. Interview I; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
7. Interview A; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
8. Interview M; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 7 May 2014.
9. Interview F; Head of the Department, Växjö municipality, 24 January 2011; Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
10. Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
11. Interview A; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview D; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 9 May 2014; Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
12. Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011; Interview I; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011; Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014.
13. Interview I; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
14. Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014.
15. Interview O; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 5 February 2014; Interview D; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 9 May 2014.
16. Interview A; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview D; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 9 May 2014; Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
17. Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.
18. Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview G; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 16 May 2014; Interview C; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 16 October 2014.
19. Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview C; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 16 October 2014; Interview F; Head of the Department, Växjö municipality, 24 January 2011.
20. Interview D; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 9 May 2014; Interview M; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 7 May 2014; Interview N; Elected politician, Växjö municipality, 7 May 2014.
21. Interview J; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 5 February 2014.
22. Interview O; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 5 February 2014; Interview P; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 16 May 2014; Interview F; Head of the Department, Växjö municipality, 24 January 2011; Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014.
23. Interview J; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 5 February 2014.
24. Interview I; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011; Interview J; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 5 February 2014; Interview B; Public officer, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014; Interview A; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 6 February 2014.
25. Interview K; Head of Department, Växjö municipality, 25 January 2011.