Place branding from a multi-level perspective

This article proceeds from the basic assumption that place branding is a place-creating process. Its main argument, however, is that these acts of place creation must be understood from a multi-level perspective. To substantiate this argument, the author provides empirical evidence from four spatial levels, namely, a neighbourhood, a municipality, a functional region and a county in Sweden. The empirical data show that at all these four levels place-branding actors use two particular techniques - spatial positioning and spatial anchorage - in order to communicate the space they wish to promote. The techniques of anchorage and positioning create a complex web of branded places, which, the author argues, can be understood only from a multi-level perspective on place branding.