The purpose of this study is to provide theoretical methods and practical strategies of crea-ting city identity, and to utilize them as basic tools of city management. Place marketing consists of two parts, place assets making and place promotion. Place asset making is the process of making the place-specific advantage or attractiveness and the place promotion is the process that makes notice of it. The place marketing debates and strategies is quite often confined to partial place marketing, the search for the tactical method of place promotion. However, this study examines the characteristics of full place marketing focused on the place making such as the background, concept, category, participants and principles of place making. This study finds out that the originality, specificity, and indispensability of place asset is the source of competitive advantage. The principles of place asset making are participation, learning and experience, and leadership and networks among actors. The policy implication of this study is that it is most important for the success of place marke-ting to make competitive assets and eventual city identity.
Patterns of place promotion, place marketing and/or place branding in Dutch municipalities
