Crossroads between city diplomacy and city branding towards the future: case study on the film cities at UNESCO Creative Cities Network

Abstract

The paper holds twofold purpose. First, the study seeks to find potential synergies between public diplomacy and place branding at city level. Second, from that standpoint, it pursues to identify potential contributions of the city of film title for developments on branding and diplomacy of cities. The research is designed to answer the questions: (1) what is the common ground of city branding and city diplomacy? and (2) how can cities’ titles potentially contribute to the future from the intersection of city diplomacy and city branding? Thus, the literature review investigates city diplomacy in the public diplomacy perspective, outlined by the multilayered diplomacy approach, while city branding is analyzed through place branding. Then, a case study is performed on the film cities at UNESCO Creative Cities Network, specifically Galway, Bradford, Busan, and Sydney. The analytical frame named ‘CBCD crossroads matrix’ is an outcome of this research consisting of the intersection between Cull’s components of city diplomacy and Kavaratzis’ components of city branding. Data were collected from reports and interviews, then examined by content analysis and soft systems methodology. Findings indicate potential opportunities for improvements and bring evidence that the crossroads of city diplomacy and city branding flows towards a joint future avenue.