Abstract
This paper addresses the role of brand design in the validation of hegemonic narratives on the identities of cities, issued by place brands and local administrations. Drawing on concepts from Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse analysis, we address place identity(ies), as floating signifiers, appropriated by global and local discourses in order to gain hegemony, through the naturalization of their narratives.
We examine these mechanisms at work in the visual branding of the city of Porto, as a case study. Through a critical analysis of the brand’s rhetoric and implementation, issued and controlled by the City’s Council, we identify a set of problematic equivalences that symbolically entail the obliteration of public debate. As a counterpoint to the Council’s allegedly consensual narrative, the collection and analysis of appropriations of the “Porto.” brand offers an under-acknowledged map of local dynamics, revealing a city where antagonistic views coexist.
The above evinces the need to issue alternative representations that challenge hegemonic discourses; as well as the need to promote critical thinking and public awareness, namely of the mechanisms that work to reduce them. Acknowledging the potential of design as a social tool, we issue two recommendations: that in order to cultivate a paradigm of plurality and citizen awareness, the word representation is employed instead of identity, when referring to representations of places; and that in order to produce representations that effectively reveal and enhance local singularities, the retrieval and re-creation of local aesthetics and narratives is a privileged methodological choice.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Porto was elected European Best Destination prize in 2012, 2014 and 2017, a distinction awarded by a website dedicated to European tourism promotion. A campaign was launched to support the city’s candidature and the awards were much celebrated and publicized by the City Council.
- 2.
- 3.
For early examples of the brand’s implementation in public space see: https://www.behance.net/gallery/20315389/New-identity-for-the-city-of-Porto.
- 4.
A similar analysis concerning the city of Braga (Carvalho 2016) has used Laclau and Mouffe’s conceptual framework to demonstrate how certain signifiers were invested by the City Council to support its project and business interests and appropriated by local powers to construct and reinforce their hegemonic positions.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
“Ancient, most noble, always loyal and undefeated city of Porto". The city’s motto is related to the XIX th century liberal revolution.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
For a broader collection of visual manifestations on Porto’s walls, expressing criticism on a number of issues this paper addresses, not necessarily configuring subvertising actions, see project ABriga: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=ABriga112&set=a.105745704607561.
- 17.
- 18.
On this matter see also: https://www.publico.pt/2018/06/02/local/opiniao/a-cidade-do-porto-nao-tem-piorio-1832893.
- 19.
References
Aires, E.: Uma palavra para o Porto. In: Porto. Manual de identidade. (2017). https://www.cm-porto.pt/files/uploads/cms/cmp/7/files/21/01-manual-14-digital-2017.pdf
Aires, E., Moreira, R., Santos, N.N.: Porto. Câmara Municipal do Porto, Porto (2016)
Aires, E., Moreira, R., Santos, N.N.: Porto. Manual de identidade (2017). https://www.cm-porto.pt/files/uploads/cms/cmp/7/files/21/01-manual-14-digital-2017.pdf
Alvelos, H.: The fabrication of authenticity: graffiti beyond subculture. Ph.D, Royal College of Art (2003)
Barbosa, I., Lopes, J.T.: Descodificar as paredes da cidade: da crítica à gentrificação ao direito da habitação no Porto. Sociologia: Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, vol. 38, pp. 6–29 (2019). https://doi.org/10.21747/08723419/soc38a1
Bismarck, P.L.: A cidade na época da sua reprodutibilidade financeira. Punkto (2019)
Carvalho, A.: Discursos hegemónicos sobre a cidade_ “desenvolvimento” e “crescimento verde” em Braga. Cidades (33) (2016)
Casais, B., Monteiro, P.: Residents’ involvement in city brand co-creation and their perceptions of city brand identity: a case study in Porto. Place Brand. Public Dipl. 15(4), 229–237 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-019-00132-8
Domingues, Á.: Lugar e identidade de quem? In: Vaz-Pinheiro, G., (ed.), espaços relacionais: um novo campo expandido para a arte e pensamento: i2ads ArinSite (2012)
Fernandes, J., Carvalho, L., Chamusca, P., Pinto, J.: Gentrification in Porto: problems and opportunities in the past and in the future of an internationally open city. GOT – J. Geogr. Spatial Plan. (15), 177–198 (2018). https://doi.org/10.17127/got/2018.15.008
Hanna, S., Rowley, J.: An analysis of terminology use in place branding. Place Brand. Public Dipl. 4(1), 61–75 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.pb.6000084
Hauge, Å.L.: Identity and place: a critical comparison of three identity theories. Archit. Sci. Rev. 50(1), 44–51 (2011). https://doi.org/10.3763/asre.2007.5007
Icomos: Technical evaluation report on the conservation of the site inscribed in the world heritage list of UNESCO (2018). https://www.icomos.pt/images/pdfs/2018/ICOMOS-Portugal_Report%20Porto_180228%20(EN).pdf
Jørgensen, M.W., Phillips, L.J.: Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. SAGE Publications (2002)
Kalandides, A.: The problem with spatial identity: revisiting the “sense of place.” J. Place Manag. Dev. 4(1), 28–39 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1108/17538331111117142
Laclau, E., Mouffe, C.: Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics: Verso (1985)
Laranjo, F.: Simplismo. Público (2016). https://www.publico.pt/2016/04/19/p3/cronica/simplismo-1825809. Accessed: 19 Apr 2016
Laranjo, F.: Algumas notas sobre o Morto. Público (2017). https://www.publico.pt/2017/08/29/p3/cronica/algumas-notas-sobre-o-morto-1828489. Accessed: 29 Aug 2017
Lecompte, A.F., Trelohan, M., Gentric, M., Manuelle, A.: Putting sense of place at the centre of place brand development. J. Mark. Manag. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2017.1307872
Leurs, R.: The ‘chain of equivalence’. Cultural studies and Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory (2009). https://politicsandculture.org/2009/11/09/the-chain-of-equivalence-cultural-studies-and-laclau-mouffes-discourse-theory/#:~:text=Cultural%20studies%20and%20Laclau%20%26%20Mouffe's%20discourse%20theory,-By%20politics%20%7C%20Published&text=Cultural%20studies%20frequently%20addresses%20discourse%20theory.&text=They%20make%20it%20plausible%20that,)%20(2008%3A%2017).
Maalouf, A.: As identidades assassinas. Difel (1998)
MacCannell, D.: Staged authenticity: arrangements of social space in tourist settings. Am. J. Sociol. 79(3) (1973). https://doi.org/10.1086/225585
Massey, D.: A global sense of place. Marxism Today (1991). http://banmarchive.org.uk/collections/mt/index_frame.htm
Melo, A.D., Balonas, S.: Stickers on politics. The power of a brand is its weakness – a case of activism and subvertising. In: Ruiz-Mora, I., Gonçalves, G., Somerville, I., (eds.) Organizational and Strategic Communication Research: Global Trends, pp. 173–197. LabCom.IFP, Covilhã (2019)
Minnaert, T.: Footprint or fingerprint: international cultural policy as identity policy. Int. J. Cult. Policy 20(1), 99–113 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2012.722997
Moreira, R.: O “Claim” mais pequeno do Mundo. In: Porto. Manual de identidade (2017). https://www.cm-porto.pt/files/uploads/cms/cmp/7/files/21/01-manual-14-digital-2017.pdf
Moura, M.: Original é usar a palavra “original” na mesma frase que Câmara Municipal (2015). https://ressabiator.wordpress.com/2015/05/
Peng, J., Strijker, D., Wu, Q.: Place identity: how far have we come in exploring its meanings? Front. Psychol. 11(294) (2020). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00294
Pereira, M.A., Domingues, Á.: World of Wine: a vista do Porto para Gaia com mais um chiringuito. Público. (2017). https://www.publico.pt/2017/06/16/local/opiniao/world-of-wine-a-vista-do-porto-para-gaia-com-mais-um-chiringuito-1775636. Accessed: 16 June 2017
Porto, P.P., Pensamento, P.: https://portopeloporto.wordpress.com/ppp-2/conceito/
Queirós, J.: Políticas de reabilitação urbana e recomposição do tecido social no centro histórico do Porto: representações e discursos de moradores sobre a respetiva evolução recente. Sociologia 31, 29–58 (2016). http://www.scielo.mec.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0872-34192016000100003&nrm=iso
Ribeiro, M., Providência, F.: Um ponto entre pontos: breve reflexão sobre criatividade e inovação em Design. Ergotrip Design - Revista dos encontros internacionais de estudos luso-brasileiros em Design e Ergonomia(1) (2015)
Rodrigues, C.: Branding Porto. In: Strategic Perspectives in Destination Marketing, pp. 198–219 (2019)
Santos, N.N.: Ponto de partida. In: Porto. Manual de identidade (2017a). https://www.cm-porto.pt/files/uploads/cms/cmp/7/files/21/01-manual-14-digital-2017.pdf
Santos, N.N.: Porto, European design destination/interviewer: C. Fernandes. ROOF – An IN & OUT Magazine (2017b)
Acknowledgments
This research is being developed within the project “Visual and semantic identities of the city of Porto: an ascertainment of the contributions of informal dwelling”, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the European Social Fund (ESF), through the European Regional Development Fund, under the grant PD/BD/150641/2020.
The following people generously contributed to this paper by allowing us to reproduce their images: Inês Barbosa, Laura Gonçalves, Luís Camanho and Pedro Ferreira. To all of them, many thanks.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Rebelo, A.M., Alvelos, H., Domingues, Á. (2022). The City Is Not a Brand: A Critical Analysis of the Narrative and Appropriations of “Porto.”. In: Martins, N., Brandão, D. (eds) Advances in Design and Digital Communication II. DIGICOM 2021. Springer Series in Design and Innovation , vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89735-2_52
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89735-2_52
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-89734-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-89735-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)