Wag the dog… Decision-makers’ thoughts on produced city images

Abstract

This overview article seeks some interpretations of the local decision-maker’s thoughts on city images. The aim of the argumentation is to show the transparent idea of image-making campaigns, which are usually driven by municipality officers whose own ideas on images are muddled by local identities and objectives like a booming local economy and tourism etc. As shown in the case of the in-depth interviews made among town planners, architects, managers and marketing people (hereafter: decision-makers), the basic starting point for place promotion is trivialized by commercial slogans. Based on the interpretation of research material from two Finnish cities, one could make justified questions on the meaning of local identity, image-making agendas, sense of community and the role of place in the image consumption. The article will focus on the question “why does a dog wag its tail?” i.e. the main interest is paid to the ideas and aims of image-makers and their ways of thinking. The article works through two-level interpretation of image-making. First, the theoretical aspects of image-making are analyzed from the viewpoint of contemporary cultural geography and urban studies. Second, the relationship of “theories” and “usage of images” is viewed through a single question of the research interviews. The results show that the discourse on images is only beginning in the public sector, and the future seems open.