Iconic Buildings and City Marketing: Strategies for the Central Area of Sao Paulo, Brazil

In recent decades, city marketing has become a critical tool for urban interventions in developed countries. Recently, cities of emerging countries have opted to use city marketing strategies as a route into the competitive economic dynamics of "global cities". Among other tools, city marketing uses architecture (as part of the local culture) to increase the competitiveness, relevance and visibility of cities in the globalized world. Accordingly, architecture has become a fundamental tool of the celebration, real and symbolic, of pervasive models of city planning. In 2008, the Department of Culture of the city of Sao Paulo (Brazil) commissioned the Swiss architecture office Herzog & De Meuron to design the "Cultural Complex Dance Theatre" ("Complexo Cultural Teatro da Dance"), a monumental building located in one of the most vital and complex areas of the city center. This study aims to analyze the fundamentals of that unique city marketing urban intervention, considering a) the symbolic and political impact of its actions on the local population and b) the ability for requalification of the surrounding area. The findings question the effectiveness of the model in emerging countries, namely in Brazil.