EXPO MILAN 2015: A PALIMPSEST OF EVENTS FOR URBAN BRANDING

The Universal Exhibitions configure themselves as a media space within the urban branding projects that aim to create a brand for the city so that it may be consumed as a commodity. From this perspective, this article presents the Expo Milano 2015, a 184-day mega-event, in which 144 countries took part and which attracted 21 million visitors. Despite the problems associated with this mega-event (such as protests by residents of the city and high costs), the Expo Milano has been considered successful from a marketing point of view. The conception of a city as a marketing product, however, is also the construction of an "ideal" city, which often doesn't take into account the various subjects and subjectivities that are part of it.