Neo-liberalism and the future of place marketing

Place marketing of cities tends to be seen as a pragmatic rather than a political activity aimed at bringing prosperity to localities. It is argued here that the reverse is the case: place marketing is an essentially political activity that demonstrates different political, or more accurately, class settlements by its impact upon cities. The political shift to neo-liberalism ended the post-war social democratic settlement and ushered in a new era for place marketing. Place marketing was an integral part of that settlement. It was particularly associated with gentrification which, it is argued, is a political strategy by which neo-liberalism takes control of the city. Place marketing, however, reached its limits by the end of the long boom – economic crisis is nothing more than the impact of the cumulative limits of that period. But now that crisis has discredited neo-liberalism it is unlikely that the place marketing that characterized the last twenty five years will remain. If place marketing symbolises different political settlements then the politics that emerges out of this crisis will generate another type of place marketing.