“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE
As cities continue to compete for regional and global primacy, governments around the world have drawn upon a series of entrepreneurial tactics to secure investment. Along with city branding initiatives aimed at producing positive images of the city, governments increasingly seek to generate revenue...
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ndltd-uvic.ca-oai-dspace.library.uvic.ca-1828-48642015-01-29T16:52:24Z “Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE Sotoudehnia, Maral Rose-Redwood, Reuben Skye city branding discourse analysis Dubai naming rights neoliberalism pastoral power political economy critical toponymy urban governance As cities continue to compete for regional and global primacy, governments around the world have drawn upon a series of entrepreneurial tactics to secure investment. Along with city branding initiatives aimed at producing positive images of the city, governments increasingly seek to generate revenue through the corporate sponsorship of public place names, or what I term toponymic branding. Drawing upon government documents and 15 semi-structured interviews, this study examines how the neoliberalization of place through city and toponymic branding is currently reshaping the geographies of urban governance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), by considering two case studies: the naming of the Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) and the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative. In addition to semi-structured interviews conducted in situ, this research draws upon a variety of web-based marketing materials designed to promote the Burj Khalifa as an icon of Dubai and the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative as a cutting-edge tool to increase revenue generation for the Government of Dubai. This thesis suggests that, despite efforts to maximize profits through city and toponymic branding campaigns, the renaming of the Burj Khalifa undercuts previous positive associations stakeholders held with the “tallest building in the world,” the city, and its brand. This study also demonstrates that, through the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative, the Government of Dubai has used toponymic branding as a political tool to foster relationships with members of the business community. In doing so, the current research contributes to critical toponymic and urban geographic scholarship by examining the political economy of toponymic branding as a strategy of neoliberal urbanism in Dubai. Graduate 0366 msotou@uvic.ca 2013-08-29T18:28:09Z 2013-08-29T18:28:09Z 2013 2013-08-29 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4864 English en Available to the World Wide Web |
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English en |
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city branding discourse analysis Dubai naming rights neoliberalism pastoral power political economy critical toponymy urban governance |
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city branding discourse analysis Dubai naming rights neoliberalism pastoral power political economy critical toponymy urban governance Sotoudehnia, Maral “Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE |
description |
As cities continue to compete for regional and global primacy, governments around the world have drawn upon a series of entrepreneurial tactics to secure investment. Along with city branding initiatives aimed at producing positive images of the city, governments increasingly seek to generate revenue through the corporate sponsorship of public place names, or what I term toponymic branding. Drawing upon government documents and 15 semi-structured interviews, this study examines how the neoliberalization of place through city and toponymic branding is currently reshaping the geographies of urban governance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), by considering two case studies: the naming of the Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) and the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative. In addition to semi-structured interviews conducted in situ, this research draws upon a variety of web-based marketing materials designed to promote the Burj Khalifa as an icon of Dubai and the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative as a cutting-edge tool to increase revenue generation for the Government of Dubai. This thesis suggests that, despite efforts to maximize profits through city and toponymic branding campaigns, the renaming of the Burj Khalifa undercuts previous positive associations stakeholders held with the “tallest building in the world,” the city, and its brand. This study also demonstrates that, through the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative, the Government of Dubai has used toponymic branding as a political tool to foster relationships with members of the business community. In doing so, the current research contributes to critical toponymic and urban geographic scholarship by examining the political economy of toponymic branding as a strategy of neoliberal urbanism in Dubai. === Graduate === 0366 === msotou@uvic.ca |
author2 |
Rose-Redwood, Reuben Skye |
author_facet |
Rose-Redwood, Reuben Skye Sotoudehnia, Maral |
author |
Sotoudehnia, Maral |
author_sort |
Sotoudehnia, Maral |
title |
“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE |
title_short |
“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE |
title_full |
“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE |
title_fullStr |
“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE |
title_full_unstemmed |
“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE |
title_sort |
“turn your brand into a destination”: city branding, naming rights, and the neoliberalization of dubai, uae |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4864 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT sotoudehniamaral turnyourbrandintoadestinationcitybrandingnamingrightsandtheneoliberalizationofdubaiuae |
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1716729608807645184 |