The Distorted Communication of a City

Sammanfattning: This study argues that there is a problem in previous literature regarding theunderstanding of value in city brand communication. Value construction has been overemphasized, at the expenses of value destruction, which is problematic because there is a mutual relationship between value construction and destruction. City brand communication is distorted, and therefore, groups are excluded when intending to create value, which leads to value being destroyed as well. Thus, the aim of the study is to examine the mutual relationship between the value construction and destruction in the brand communication of three Swedish post-industrial cities. It will examine this by interviewing city strategists and tourism executives as well as through a document study of brand platforms, policy documents, websites and tourist brochures. The value construction and destruction is identified using a theoretical framework of looking at how humans make meaning of the world - through distinctive worlds of justification - as well as how people exclude opinions - through micro-practices of discursive closure. The analysis is conducted using seven analytical categories, helping to understand the data and to draw conclusions more in-depth. The results demonstrate that the intended value construction of city brand communication simultaneously destroy the same values. The study shows that cities need to develop communicative skills in how to minimise the exclusion of specific groups. There are wider societal implications to democracy when the city brand as a social actor undermines the complexity of the brand communication by excluding groups or opinions. Furthermore, it contributes to previous research by showing that there is a mutual relationship between value construction and destruction, and cities need to address this in order to succeed with their brand communication.