Spatial self-preference: On the limits of place marketing to attract new residents and firms

Contains fulltext : 86997.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Worried about demographic and economic shrinkage, more and more cities and regions in Europe invest in place marketing. With campaigns, they try to seduce new residents and firms to settle in their community. In this article, we question the usefulness of such 'cold' place marketing by referring to geographical insights and recent empirical evidence from the Netherlands. In fact, data on migration flows clearly demonstrate the geographical inertia of citizens and companies. Contrary to popular thinking, Dutch residents and firms do not easily move - they show a lot of spatial self-preference resulting from a strong sense of place and/or location-specific capital. Although this article mainly deals with the Dutch situation, we suggest that, in general, place marketing will be of limited use to acquire in-migrants and new firms. Therefore, we plea for 'warm' place marketing that starts with the needs of a community's existing residents and entrepreneurs. In the end, we think, pleased locals are a place's best ambassadors.7 p

Coping with shrinkage in Europe's cities and towns

An increasing number of cities and towns in Europe are facing population decline. In this article we focus on the challenges of this urban shrinkage process from a policy perspective. After a short review of the main causes and consequences of urban shrinkage in Europe, two common public policy responses are identified and evaluated: counteracting shrinkage and accepting shrinkage. Arguing that the latter is the most suitable approach, we recognise that coping with population decline is a complex urban governance process in which citizens inevitably have to play an important role. In shrinking environments, however, people are not always prepared to engage for their community. If policymakers want citizens to care for their community, they must enable them to do so. This may require a rethink of the specific tasks and roles of local government in Europe's shrinking cities and towns