LA IMAGEN DE LA CIUDAD de Kevin Lynch

« Novedad en nuestra Tienda de Libros »

 Incluimos en nuestro catálogo este destacado libro que introduce un lenguaje original y a la vez más simple, que ayuda a que leamos mejor nuestras ciudades.

 A pesar del título, el autor no analiza únicamente la imagen física del tramado urbano. En lugar de eso, basándose en el concepto de “legibilidad” el libro articula unas técnicas y términos (sendas, bordes, campos, nodos e hitos) útiles como herramientas de análisis, no sólo para el diseño, sino también para el marketing de ciudades y la creación de una marca-ciudad.

 No hay que dejarse engañar tampoco por otros factores del libro como las ciudades de ejemplo estudiadas, todas norteamericanas; se trata de una pequeña sorpresa comprobar cómo las conclusiones de su análisis son de una vigencia universal, aplicables tanto a ciudades de la cultura europea, asiática o latinoamericana. Por eso, lo hemos añadido a nuestra categoría de "Libros recomendables".

- Acceder a nuestra Tienda on-line de libros de urbanismo -

Stored potential

This time we want to call attention to the concept of  "stored potential".

photos by The Reader and Admiral58

 We have this too-big-to-demolish multi-silo grain elevator in downtown Omaha (Nebraska) disused for decades yet strong structurally, located a mere stone’s throw from city center and seen by an estimated 76,000 commuters of I-80 Highway each and every day, that has been given an amazing makeover thanks to a collective called Emerging Terrain, founded by landscape designer Anne Trumble.

photo by Papparazzi

 The organization achieved great success in recruiting governmental, corporate, educational and artistic forces. Involving local artists, the frontage was converted in a showroom suitable for semi-temporaries exhibitions, and also -not meaning "instead of"- for punctual commercial banners in its 6x24 meters panels.

image via Emergin Terrain

 Here we are talking about applying art as a solution for the visual pollution of a monstrous, abandoned, degradated, mid-20th century grain elevator; or repurposing to revaluing. But the idea is to create value where there was once only dereliction and decay (and revaluing may be mean revaluating), just using the "stored potential" acumulated by this place. And every place has its own.

 Because places are spaces that are valued.

 There is a side of the city branding theory that says:

Your brand is what people say about you

when you're not in the room.

 Just look at the city of Medellin or at your own city: What's the opinion of their inhabitants? If you take care of your citizens, the rest will take care of itself.

 Cities can make all the city branding they want, but if they don't work from reality, their proposals are all in vain.

A tool to help your city leaves out crisis

 Coming back to city branding ideas, it would be interesting recovering the book Branding New York: How a City in Crisis Was Sold to the World by Miriam Greenberg.

 New York’s troubles in the 1970s were severe even for the time, according to the book:
 Getting off a Greyhound at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a visitor might find a brochure pressed into their hand with a picture of a death’s head and the words, “Welcome to Fear City”. The brochures, which warned people to stay off the subway and to avoid going out after dark, were a protest by city workers angry about fiscal austerity measures.

 Well, nowadays ten billion “I HEART NY” shopping bags later, the city’s branding push continues healthy.

 But there's more. The trick is a coordinated, centralized city branding sprawling every area of the city and its governance, to revalue it.

 What good it does for a city to shout about how wonderful it is or the cool new shop in the privileged neighborhood, when anyone can see that is a place where something has gone terribly awry: discrimination, segregation, disinvestment, poverty, corruption, gentrification, sprawl, etc.

 The secret key of the city branding is the people -even the smart and talented ones- that do not want to live in your city and, acting in their own best interest, may be moving away every day.

And the winner question is: Do people want to live in your city?

Posicionamiento de ciudades (fase cero)

¿Existe un imaginario colectivo acerca del asentamiento urbano en cuestión?

 Porque ése -y no otro- es el potencial desaprovechado inmediatamente por el márketing de la ciudad (o city branding).

 Ése será el material sobre el que aplicarse primeramente para crear una narrativa elemental, de corto alcance, pero cuyo fin (al crecer la narrativa y hacerse más elaborada) es el establecimiento de una marca-ciudad económicamente beneficiosa.

Cities are more than an organism

 Organisms die like you and me. But cities have the feature to reinvent themselves -before they get the critical stage-. Cities can be reinvented by their innovative inhabitants.

 Let´s see an example. Did you watch the London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony? The film director Danny Boyle designed an spectacle telling the common history of the town. From this to this, we assisted to the transformation of a city: 

 

 Commencing with the structurer Thames River and the maritime heritage of the heart of London, we saw a green and rural essence of the original city represented by a pastoral and turfed hill that remained the whole ceremony. Then appeared romantic visionaries and victorian lords to handle the Industrial Revolution, and big engines and smokestacks rising from the ground, replacing the turf by a dark plot and turning the scene into a dark and polluted pandemonium. It stopped and emerged industrial workers and the city representative social movements of the modern era, finally contributing hugely to our global culture.

Some cities have always been there. London is one of them.

Para muchos, la principal industria española es el idioma español, y la sede de esa multinacional global es Madrid

Citybranding

CUIMPB - Centre Ernest Lluch:

Cuando se elaboran rankings de las mejores ciudades del mundo, ¿por qué siempre salen en las primeras posiciones las mismas? ¿Cómo es que todos "amamos Nueva York", o pensamos en Shanghai como una ciudad donde el futuro ya ha llegado? Ya hace años que se habla del citymarketing ... pero, ahora ha llegado la hora de conocer cómo se crea y gestiona una Marca-Ciudad. Es la hora de entender el Citybranding, una disciplina que se encarga de identificar los valores más relevantes de una ciudad para convertirse en una marca de éxito, que pueda ser comunicada a todo el mundo. En Barcelona, una de las 5 primeras en todos los rankings mundiales, nos proponemos conocer mejor el citybranding de algunas de las "ciudad-marca" más importantes del mundo, como Londres, Nueva York, Shanghai o la propia Barcelona, y entender por qué es tan importante crear, gestionar, y preservar los valores de la Marca-ciudad.

Do cities need a "brand-director"?

He heard this: “All strong brands have a creative director with a strong vision. Cities need them too. And no, they’re not called mayors.”

What would the creative director for a city actually control? Logos? Signage? Street design? Planning reviews? Or just give his knowledges.

As Machiavelli put it, this is an axiom which never fails: That a prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice….Good counsels, whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

The input of the best creative director in the world would be wasted if the leadership doesn’t get it. Before seeking the best creative input, what is first needed is to cultivate an understanding of the importance of brand, strategy, and vision in municipal leaders.

The new 21st century competitive landscape demands more from leaders than ever before, and they have to grow beyond operational excellence and prudent financial management to having the skills such as brand vision that have traditionally been the hallmarks of the private sector. Only with that prerequisite in place does hiring a creative director or other expert make sense.

A “brand director” might be an organization; many cities have public-private downtown civic groups or convention-visitors bureaus that do or could effectively perform the function.

-vía The Urbanophile

World class cities

The challenge for cities that currently have rather dowdy brand images is that they obsess over how over people see them. (Or even about how they think other people see them).

Seeing their [imaginated] negative brand image, they then look at what the cool cities are doing and say, “If we want to be cool too, we’d better be like that.” In short, they think just like high school kids who want to be part of the popular clique. They fail to consider both that this attitude is itself adolescent, and that no matter what they do, they are highly unlikely to get into the club. Cliques are by definition exclusive, so the minute you think you’ve caught up with everyone else, they are on to something else.

I think one of the main reasons we’ll see starchitecture start to wane, for example, isn’t just a lack of money, it’s the fact that everyone is doing it, from Milwaukee to the Middle East.

I do recognize that as social creatures, this notion of being part of the tribe never leaves us, even in adulthood. We all engage in actions designed to display our membership in a class, a status, a group, etc. Dress for the job you want, they say. But we move beyond purely thinking of these as the road to success. We recognize them a bit for what they are – part of the game you have to play. More importantly, we grow more comfortable in our skin. We figure out who we are and what we do best. We don’t always just follow the crowd or the trend – at least few people who wants to be truly successful or move up in the ranks – or be happy – do.

Unfortunately, most cities are still stuck in high school. They think it is about having the accouterments of the cool places, not realizing that they are just like Charlie Brown trying to kick that football. What’s worse, they actually seem determined in many cases to downplay or leave behind many of their strongest brand assets in any attempt to be like the cool kids. 

Some cities go so far as to downplay their very name. Detroit comes to mind. A lot of the marketing and things put out by booster groups now refer to it as “the D” – Model D Media for example. But no one knows or cares about “the D”. In fact, I’ve seen other people in cities like Dallas call their city “the D”. But “Detroit” is a name with international resonance and power. It’s what I call “the power of brand Detroit”, and it is overwhelming. Has Cleveland, Buffalo, or any other struggling city gotten one tenth the national and international media coverage of Detroit? Did Time magazine set up a “Project Toledo”? No. Detroit is simply a city and brand unlike any other, one that has the power to grab the eyes of the world.

To renew our cities, we have to build on what they are, not what they aren’t. [could be, not would be].

The lesson of Portland is not the physical things Portland did. The lesson of Portland is that they went their own way and did what was right for them. Other cities need to find their own paths. That doesn’t mean you can’t do something or aspire to be something you’ve never been. That’s how we grow as people and as cities. But suddenly deciding to just chuck your whole heritage, history, character, etc. and go in a radically different direction is probably not going to work. One reason, for example, the 1970’s era amateur sports strategy for Indianapolis worked is that sports was something that was already compatible with the local culture. It was a reworking of something that was already there, positioned for the future – and it fit the city.

I realize some changes need to be made in many places that aren’t a good fit. That requires strong and courageous leadership (top down and bottom up) to make happen. But it’s a lot more likely to happen if it is alloyed with things that do fit the civic DNA.

A great city, like a great wine, has to express its terroir.

I’m reminded of the Jonathan Glancey quote I gave last week: What’s wrong with a city being ‘world class’? A great deal is wrong. Why? Because it’s yet another manifestation of ways in which cities are beginning to resemble one another all too closely…

The joy of great cities lies in their differences. What’s special about Stockholm is different from what makes London or Vienna attractive. The ‘world class city’, and its gormless sibling, the ‘world class place’, is a political slogan, conjured by globally minded, air-travel addicted wonks, that has been adopted, sadly and dimly, by politicians, quangos and planners around the world. 

Find out what it is that’s unique and special about your place, your region. What is the joy of your great city? It all starts with that great Greek proverb: “Know thyself”.

-vía Urbanophile