Creating sustainability: place branding strategies and the emergence of creative milieus in heritage sensitive cities
Creating sustainability: place branding strategies and the emergence of creative milieus in heritage sensitive cities

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims at examining the role of particular place branding strategies in the emergence of creative milieus within the cities where a cultural heritage is perceived as being of special importance and pride. The main question is thus of how to appreciate what heritage is working, thereby offering inspiration for people to be creative and open to innovative ideas and practices crucial for sustainable development of a heritage sensitive city. The paper seeks to provide a critical account of the concepts of invented tradition, heritage-sensitive city and urban creative milieu while breaking with the rhetoric of creativity distinguishing the literature which still prevails in the field. It highlights some details concerning the impact of place branding on forming local cultural identity, with a special focus on the role of such identity in the emergence of urban creative milieus. The paper specifies the design of the comparative case studies of the emergence of creative milieus within medium-sized cities of Ivanovo (Russia), Liberec (the Czech Republic), Enschede (the Netherlands) and Tampere (Finland) which were traditionally distinguished by the predominance of the textile industry in the structure of local economy. In this context, it defines strengths and weaknesses of the study that has been made to date.

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