Historic Preservation as a Tool for City Branding Case Study: Khedivial Cairo

Abstract

AbstractHistoric urban spaces are considered one of the important components of the visual image that have significant effect on the urban environment. Those spaces are identified as planned open spaces which are usually located in the city center, and it can be a gathering place for community members and tourists, a suitable place for open markets, festivals, or political events. Today, many cities aim to strengthen the valuable urban character of the historical urban spaces to achieve a sustainable urban image by integrating several elements like economic, cultural, social aspects and activities via some new strategies including urban branding strategy. City branding is a novel aspect of urban communication that improves marketing of the city image in several ways by transforming the visual image of the city into a brand image. Historic preservation can help cities keep their unique character and diversity of urban parts in downtown areas and consequently lay a foundation upon which they can form their unique urban space brands that attract talent. Simultaneously, historic properties can be used to marketplace branding. This study aims to define the connection between historic and valuable images of the urban spaces and city branding, in order to achieve a proposed framework for evaluating the level of success of historic urban spaces (Opera Square) from the urban aspects to improve the identity of the square.KeywordsCity brandingCultureIdentityVisual imageOpera square