Abstract:

The role of all residents as key participants in the city branding process has not been widely discussed. The aim of this paper was to determine how citizens’ involvement impacts their perceptions of the city's image, using a multivariate model.

Many authors support more participatory and inclusive place branding practices, that empower stakeholders’ participation (Kavaratzis 2012; Lichrou et al. 2017). However, residents continue to be excluded from deliberations (Cassinger and Thelander 2017). Therefore, more studies are discussing how to involve and empower the underprivileged groups such as residents (Vanolo 2017).