2. INSTRUMENTS OF PLACE BRANDING
People make sense of places by constructing their own understandings of them
in their minds through three main areas of contact. These encounters with places
occur through first, perceptions and images obtained through the accumulated
experiences of how they use specific places; secondly, through various forms of
place representation whether films, novels, paintings, news reports and so on;
and thirdly, through the impacts of deliberate policy interventions like planning
and urban design. These received messages and impressions are mentally
processed to allow understanding of and interaction with the environment.
Devising and managing place brands is merely an attempt to influence these
processes to a predetermined end.
Three main local planning instruments are widely used throughout the world
in various combination in diverse places, each of which could be described and
exemplified at length, namely, ‘personality association’, ‘signature building and
design’ and ‘event hallmarking’.