Identity for sale? Internal and external image of the city of Wrocław and its commodification

Katarzyna Kajdanek

doi:10.5277/arc170202

Abstract

A pressure to prove their value in market terms is exerted on cities. It results in the cities’ reorientation in many activities towards commercial success which can be measured by the size of the number of tourists or influx of new investments. Since the logics of supply and demand determines the actions of local authorities it also entails changes in approaching the theme of the urban identity.    Every city has features by which it can be distinguished from other cities that make up the urban identity. The decision which of these characteristics should be chosen and included into an easy-to-market urban image is a political one since it results from the specific motives and ways of acting as well as from the narratives of actors who dominate the public sphere of the city. In the extreme case the urban identity is replaced by the urban image – a vision completely separated from the social character of the city. Currently, the inhabitants of the city are increasingly inclined to explicitly express their will and competences to participate in the process of creating the urban image together with other urban actors.    The empirical material presented in the article contains attempts to answer the question of what is the external and internal image of Wrocław in the perspective of the local leaders and inhabitants and what is the course of the process of commodification of the urban image, i.e. what social categories are defined as the most important client of the urban offer, what are the reactions towards the marketing strategy that is being carried out and how is the process of commodification and politicization of the identity assessed. The material was collected for the research grant issued by the National Centre for Science No. 2013/09/B/HS6/00418 titled “The identity of city and its inhabitants and the public space. The study of three cities”.