Att sätta kommunen på kartan?: En kvalitativ studie om platsmarknadsföring i tre svenska kommuner

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study has been to examine how Swedish municipalities use place marketing and what place-specific qualities municipalities choose to highlight in their place marketing. The study also aims to describe how municipalities involve the inhabitants in their place marketing. The study is based out of a geographical perspective with ”place” as the fundamental approach, the study has focused on how place marketing is used in practice, its emergance as well as its effects on a place and the people who live there. This has been examined by studying place marketing in Northern Sweden's three largest university municipalities.The purpose of the study is not to prove the positive or negative effects of placemarketing and from that conclude if place marketing as a "good" or "bad" strategy. Rather, this study aims to create an understanding of municipal place marketing as a phenomenon with a perspective from the place and its inhabitants. The study shows that the municipalities describe place marketing as very important for economic growth and further development. The study's results also show that there are several similarities regarding what qualities the municipalities choose to highlight and how they position themselves in their place marketing. The study explains how municipalities mainly describe themselves based on the characteristics of the people who live there. The study also shows that the interest in involving the inhabitants in placemarketing varies and that some municipalities focus on that more than others. Involving citizens is highlighted as important in research, but nevertheless, they are primarily ”used” to legitimize the placebrand and give it credibility.