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Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Master Thesis Project 7354102004

HOW IS PUBLIC INTEREST COMMUNICATED IN PLACE BRANDING?

Zuidas and De Hallen, big city projects in Amsterdam

Aurelien REYNOLDS 11127813

Graduate School of Social Sciences University of Amsterdam The Netherlands Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Tuna Tasan-Kok

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

P.N All credits to photographs and pictures can be found in the reference section

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Abstract

In today’s market economy, cities are increasingly competing with each other to attract both people and resources. Place branding has emerged as an instrument to promote places and give space a sense of identity to attract economic and human capital. A way to make cities more attractive is through large scale projects which involve both public and private actors; however such projects do not necessarily concord with the public or the surrounding community and in a pluralist society, often have to contend with multiple stakeholders’ interests.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the discourses around the communicative component of place branding in large projects in the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands using discourse/content analysis and fieldwork. I argue that the public interest is framed as a communication tool in place branding, which intentionally aims to highlight certain social characteristics of a large-scale project as a marketing strategy.

Keywords: place branding, public interest, entrepreneurial governance, communication

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my thesis supervisor Dr. Tuna Tasan-Kok for her enthusiasm and insight during the creation of this thesis. Her positive attitude and understanding of my project has helped me to be more concise and elaborate and reassured me at times when I was uncertain that I was actually on the right track.

I also wish to thank the two planning professionals who took the time to answer my questions and provided feedback on some concluding aspect of this thesis.

Finally, I am grateful to my family for their support and my fellow classmates in urban and regional planning for their vibrant and insightful contribution to discussions throughout the year.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Table of Contents

Abstract

1. Introduction 8

2. Theoretical Framework 11 2.0 Introduction to place branding 11 2.1 Place branding 11 2.2 Public interest 16 2.3 Formal intentional communication and social construction of reality 19 2.4 Conclusion 24

3. Problem Statement, Research Question &Conceptual Framework 25 3.0 Introduction to research methods 25 3.1 Research Design 25 3.2 Research Framework 27 3.3 Research Methods 29 3.4 Conclusion 37

4. Case Study Research – De Hallen and Zuidas 38 4.0 Introduction 38 4.1 Power of municipalities in the Netherlands 38 4.2 Analysis of Amsterdam Vision documents 42 4.3 De Hallen 46 4.4 Zuidas 57

5. Research Analysis 72

6. Thesis Conclusion 79

References 85

Appendix 91

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

List of Figures

1. Strategic place-brand management model 14

2. Social construction of reality 22

3. Analytical Framework: place branding social construction of reality 27

4. Word Cloud - De Hallen 51

5. Word Cloud - Zuidas building blocks 62

List of Tables

1. Content Analysis De Hallen 48

2. Critical Discourse Analysis De Hallen 49

3. Fieldwork De Hallen 51

4. Map overlay De Hallen 54

5. Trip Advisor stat review - De Hallen 55

6. Instagram De Hallen 56

7. Overview of the three scenarios 58

8. Content Analysis Zuidas building blocks 60

9. Macro and Micro-Societal trends Zuidas 61

10. Critical Discourse Analysis Zuidas building blocks 62

11. Map overlay Zuidas 64

12. Fieldwork Zuidas 65

13 Instagram Zuidas 70

List of Maps

1. Vision Map of the structural vision 2011 45

2. Big projects in the city of Amsterdam 45

3. Big projects in the city: De Hallen 48

4. Big projects in the city: Zuidas 59

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Chapter 1 Introduction to the study

The expansion of neoliberal forces and the market economy since the 70s has been well known to be a starting point of the erosion of the post second world war welfare state or state of provision. The national state, which took under its wing the peoples welfare through its strong institutional implications in the sectors of health, transport, energy and planning, slowly over the last forty years started transferring this responsibility to that of the market but also to cities in what Brenner (2005) calls a process of “deteretorrialization” and re-scaling . This process involves the downscaling and fragmentation of the welfare state to better accommodate the market. More recently, the effects of these shifts can be felt and seen through the increasing privatization of public services and an increase in public private partnerships particularly in the case of large scale projects. These can be seen as a consequence of cities being increasingly driven to gather financial resources in a highly competitive environment.

The role of planning as a state activity has usually been legitimized because the public responsibilities of planning as an institution are defined around the concept of public interest. In addition, the “public interest” was also seen as a criterion for evaluating planning and its products such as policies, projects and plans (Alexander 2002, Innes 1996). Today however we find ourselves in a state of “entrepreneurial governance” where public sector responsibilities are decentralised and privatised by using certain legal and market instruments. This entails that the municipal government plays a key role in urban development and acts as a negotiating party rather than implementing development policies. These have had obvious consequences on the understanding of public interest, however less research has been done on the movement or shift of this notion. As opposed to place marketing which is only focused on a utilitarian approach whereby the best social action is one that maximizes usefulness, place branding advocates itself as providing on the one hand the basis for developing policy to pursue economic development and, at the same time, serve as a conduit for city residents to identify with their city (Kavaratzis 2004). Furthermore, branding implies that the shape

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

and substance of places are produced by residents, local public and private actors and civil society in general (Govers 2011). To elaborate its vision, it uses stakeholders perceptions, ideas, values, symbols, culture to shape the image of the city. It therefore aims to impact the perceptions of a place and position it favourably in the minds of the target groups. Place branding can even be considered as a “governance strategy for projecting images and managing perceptions about places” (Braun, Eshuis, & Klijn, 2014, p. 64).

Problem Statement, Research Question and Conceptual Framework

Place branding is being increasingly used in cities around the world as a way to make them more attractive for investments and for people. By distinguishing itself from standard city marketing which aims to induce behavioural change from a target audience, place branding frames itself in the public interest by giving identities to places that can contribute to the marketing advantage. Legislative and legal procedures such as public hearings and stakeholder involvements in planning already mandate for the public interest, yet, public interest is recognised as troublesome to measure and complex to operationalize.

Research Question: How is public interest communicated in place branding?

The following sub-questions have been formulated and will aim to address the main research question.

A. What is place branding? How did it come about? What are its processes and dimensions? What are its communicative components?

B. What is the meaning of “public interest” in planning? How is it changing in a context of “entrepreneurial governance” ? How can the contested term be operationalised?

C. How is “public interest” communicated in the place branding of development projects in Amsterdam? What kind of discourses can be found? Are there any similarities in the strategies used? How do both projects compare?

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

This thesis elaborates on two main concepts namely place branding and public interest, and aims to investigate their relationship in the case of two place branding projects in Amsterdam. Place branding can be defined as the process employed to create place brands, networks of associations in the target groups’ minds “based on the visual, verbal, and behavioural expression of a place, which is embodied through the aims, communication, values, and the general culture of the place’s stakeholders and the overall place design” (Zenker & Braun, 2010). From my perspective, place branding is about building and providing an identity to places and communicating this identity in a way that is transparent, truthful and resonates with targeted audiences. The concept of public interest is considered in its dialogical conception, that is to say that it is recognised as being constructed either through consensus or by political means. Because public interest has also been used as a way of legitimizing planning, I see it as a “term” which is strategically used in place branding to legitimize projects. Its definition is essentially constructed through consensus among different stakeholders and can be analysed in its discourse. I consider public interest as being contextual and dependent on stakeholder wants and needs and consider it as being able to have differing impacts on local, regional and global scales.

The methods used in the research in this thesis are based on three communicative components and will be done by a)looking marketing materials that is available online b) reputation of the brand on social media platforms c) fieldwork in order to verify the findings of the discourses.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework

2.0 Introduction To understand how public interest is framed in the communication of place branding, it is important to understand the context in which place branding appeared and the existing theoretical work about it. The aim of this chapter is to give a structured knowledge about place branding and delve into its interlinkages with the concepts of public interest and communication. This will establish a basis for my analytical framework based on the elements of formal intentional communication, words of mouth and brand experience.

Section 2.1 has three objectives. First, to provide a clear and comprehensible definition of the place branding concept. Second give an explanation on the circumstances under which the term emerged from city competition in a neoliberal world. Third and finally , deliver an insight into the different processual dimensions that characterize it with a focus on the communicative component of the process. Section 2.2 deals with the concept of public interest notably the academic debate that surround the notion and the difficulties associated with its measurement. Section 2.3 focuses on communicative aspects notably formal intentional communication, framing and the social construction of reality. Finally, section 2.4 will offer a brief conclusion of what has been discussed in this chapter

2.1 Place Branding

Branding is a term that is widely used in our contemporary society and which is often associated with products, “Nike”, “Rolls Royce”, “Easy Jet” are such examples of brand names. A brand distinguishes itself by the fact it is meant to embody a product, its image must correspond to its function.

The key to successful branding is to establish a relationship between the brand and the consumer, such that there is a close fit between the consumer’s own physical and psychological needs and the brand’s functional attributes and symbolic values. Both corporate brands and city brands have multidisciplinary roots, they address multiple

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

groups of stakeholders (Ashworth, 2001), have a high level of intangibility and complexity, they need to take into account social responsibility and both deal with multiple identities (Kavaratzis 2004). Place branding provides on one hand the basis for developing policy to pursue economic development and, at the same time, it serves as a conduit for city residents to identify with their city (Kavaratzis 2004).

In order to better understand place branding, it is helpful to comprehend how it differs from “place marketing”. Place branding departs from the identity of place and is hence supply driven, as opposed to marketing, which is primarily demand driven. Govers (2011) analyses three main differences. First, place branding is about managing your reputation and intends to build awareness such as a distinctive believable image (Govers 2001). The Volkswagen (VW) scandal that happened in September 2015, revealed that VW cars beings sold in the United States had a deceitful device in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results of carbon emissions (Hotten 2015). If a brand does not comply with what is says it is, the consequences of such deceit can be devastating for a company both financially and socially. Second, marketing a city or region runs the risk of ignoring the fact that the shape and substance of places are produced by residents, local public and private actors and civil society in general. For example to reduce a place to a “tourist destination” may result in conflict with local interest groups. It is thus important to create conditions for local brand ambassadorship by building brand on the sense of place identity of the local actors and wider population. Third, a market approach to branding may exclude or discourage other actors from participation.

"Place branding is not the same as place marketing, but rather acts as a strategy that informs the marketing of the product offering of place i.e tourism, trade and talent etc" (Govers 2011).

Kavaratzis (2014) explains that city marketing is essentially dependent on the construction, and communication of the city's image- therefore the city's image is the starting point for developing a city's brand. The marketing ability of cities must first go through its “branding”.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

How did place branding come about?

Based on Kantor’s work on global city regions and the strategic position and pressures they hold, it seems clear that one of the main consequences of neoliberalism has been linked to governance(Kantor 2012). Governance is a process of coordinating political decision making implicating different actors, social groups and institutions in a particular institutional context to attain appropriate goals (Tasan-Kok & Vranken 2011). Urban governance is affected by increasing inter-urban competition and entrepreneurialism, changing urban cultures and a declining support of national governments. The neoliberal ideology of markets affect new urban policies , which are affected by deregulation of state control, downsizing of public services, dismantling of welfare programmes and overall call for the transformation to promote capital accumulation and to increase comparative advantages of the city in a global inward investment economy ( Brenner 2005) . This entails a shift from managerial government to “entrepreneurial governance” whereby the municipal government plays a key role in urban development and acts as a negotiating party rather than implementing development policies. In this entrepreneurial and competitive environment, property market actors take more pro -active roles in urban development (Heurkens & Al 2015). Emerging from this notion, the implementation of large scale projects involves building governance regimes and more precisely forging partnerships between public and private actors to reduce both the costs and risks associated with such projects. However, balancing both public and private interest in governance systems appears to pose a major challenge, and the outcomes seem problematic (Tasan-Kok 2010). There are many examples abound of unrealistic public development schemes that failed to attract private investments or market oriented projects that serve very limited public interests. In a Dutch governance system , the participation of private sector actors is organised centrally and has seemingly better balance between public and private sector interest.

The place branding process

The previous sections have attempted to both define and give a background to the concept of place branding in a context of entrepreneurial governance. However, to truly understand the term and its complexity it is useful to understand the components and

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

process that form its structure. Hanna and Rowley (2010) offer a strategic place brand model of the branding management process (see figure 1). It includes four main dimensions: Brand Evaluation, Brand Infrastructure Relationships, Place Brand Articulation and Brand Communication.

Figure 1. Strategic place brand-management model (Hannah & Rowley 2010 p463)

The arrows on the model (figure 1) indicate the way in which components influence each other. For instance, the “brand communication” component influences the “brand experience” component. In her model, it is inherent that (a) the importance of conceptualising the place brand as being about both image and experience; (b) the central significance of the physical environment on the brand experience; and (c) the complex but pivotal role of stakeholders in the brand building process. Rather than just being advertised, place branding is about delivering an exceptional experience which is both memorable and emotional. It is a bridge building between stakeholders and several target markets. When it comes to brand evaluation, place branding cannot be measured in absolute values, yet there are examples of “benchmarking” where it can be compared and ranked with comparable and competing places and can also be assessed by the quality and effectiveness of stakeholder relations or network (Resonance report 2015). The brand evaluation therefore refers to the process undertaken to gather feedback on brand image and experience. In order to monitor expectations and satisfaction, a close collaboration with stakeholders is required (Hanna & Rowley 2010).

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

A lot of literature argues that good management starts with good measurement, yet there has almost been no research reported with regards to clearly assessing the strategic effectiveness of place branding initiatives (Pike 2007). Yet, we do know that a brands performance is linked to stakeholder relations as stakeholder consultation provides means for understanding what the place has to offer in it diversity, talent, mentality supporting the establishment of effective partnerships. Place brands acknowledge the importance of stakeholder’s and the development of networks, whether citizen participation, or the establishment of public- private partnership processes are crucial to their development (Hanna & Rowley 2010). It is important to keep in mind however that place branding involves multiple stakeholders often with competing interests, unlike product branding, place branding is seldom under the control of one central authority (Van Ham 2008). Within that spectrum and looking back at figure 1, it is clear that stakeholder engagement is key in developing the infrastructure and identity of a place and thus articulation of a place. These three components then need to be communicated in a way that will affect the overall experience of the brand. The way in which stakeholder involvement is communicated is consequently of utmost importance as a way to show the value of the network as it is one of the criteria used for the brands evaluation.

This form of communication or what Kavaratzis (2004) calls “formal intentional communication” is essentially the component which focuses on the activities associated with the communication of the brand identity. As such, it builds on the brand articulation component , and has a direct influence on the perception and reality of the brand experience. Formal intentional communication is considered to be the promotional component and one of the variables of the marketing mix ( a business tool used in marketing) that has been so far adopted with ease. In Hanna & Rowley’s (2010) framework, formal intentional communication is affected by brand experience which is the experience provided by the physical characteristics of a place, and words of mouth which is the informal communication that takes place with the consumers of the brand experience.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

What should be found in the “formal intentional communication”?

Baker (2007) raises the issue of integrated brand communication and explains that the challenge is to embed messages into as many marketing applications as possible. In a sense, “incorporating” the wider public interest in place branding can be considered a form of risk management. In addition, Foley and Fahy (2004) also put forward that the sustainability of the brand is related not only to the message delivered but also to the degree of shared meanings that is contained in the message. Some however question the feasibility and/or desirability of integrated brand communication based on the assumption that consumer do not distinguish message sources in the same ways as marketers . Therefore messages regarding various proposition can result in a confused image if marketers fail to integrate various communications effectively, thus negating efforts to build a sustainable brand (Hanna & Rowley 2010). Branding is essentially a form of communicative interaction in terms of integrating and getting people together around a shared identity and image (Aitken & Campelo 2011). Brands avoid the territorial boundaries managed by suppliers, stakeholders, consumers and are susceptible to the influence of non-consumers.

2.2 Public Interest

With the marketization of the city at a global level, cities have used communication tools such as place branding to attract both social and economic capital. However, for people to come and live in cities, economic opportunities are not necessarily enough to attract them. For instance in Beijing, China, economic expats are known to have left the city due to its high levels of pollution affecting people’s health despite the economic opportunities of the area. It is thus important for cities and places to incorporate the “public interest” within their development policies if they wish to remain competitive as goes the “live, work and play” paradigm that exemplifies todays mixed use developments. Present urban regimes in a context of entrepreneurial governance means that private and public parties must find a middle ground in terms of the outcome of development projects. However, balancing both public and private interest can be problematic (Tasan-Kok 2011). In addition, it is important to emphasize that the: “relationship between planning and the market is one of continuous dynamic interaction.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

As a result, planners essentially operate as “market actors” in the sense that they are intricately involved in framing and re-framing real estate markets and so become a significant constitutive element of such markets” (Adams and Tiesdell 2013 p 65). Importantly, markets are seen as social constructs which are highly conditioned by societal norms and regulations and are reflective of dominant powers and interests. It is precisely because markets as seen as social constructs and because stakeholder relations play a pivotal role in evaluating place branding that the idea of public interest is worth researching. Because I am dealing with place branding which has an inherent spatial dimension, I consider public interest from a planner’s perspective. Public interest in planning is a widely contested construct which is recognised in academic literature as being problematic to operationalize (Campbell 2002, Alexander 2002, Innes1996). Yet, it is also recognised that planning is meant to be legitimised by the fact it acts in the public interest (Alexander 2002).

The role of planners as market actors has been increasing with city competition. Collaboration with private parties, consulting firms, development firms are becoming predominant (Campbell 2002) and thus the role of the planner is to negotiate for the betterment of the “public interest” and not that of a firm and its profit. The role of the planner as a market actor is thus to exert leverage, and strive for betterment. In its procedural sense, public interest, is undisputed because of the whole legal framework and guidelines built around it such as human rights, workers’ rights, zoning plans, planning regulations and other legal requirements. The problem with public interest is its substantive content if it is to be considered as an instrument or norm for ethical practice and as a “criterion” for assessing the “goodness of projects, policies and plans”. Three arguments illustrate this problem. First, the concept does not exist as a fact. Second, it cannot exist as a holistic interpersonal value. Third, it should not exist as a holistic interpersonal value. In short, substantive public interest cannot exist because of the diverse and complex nature of our pluralist society (Alexander 2002).

In the mid-1960’s Alan Altshuler, a prominent urban planning and policy academic at the University of Harvard, exposed the city planners’ idea of comprehensive planning. Comprehensive planning is a process that determines community goals and aspirations in terms of community development which is similar to the contribution of local stakeholders in the case of place branding (see section 2.2). Altshuler gave a

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

devastating critique of this conception , stating that the comprehensive physical plan is neither practically feasible nor politically viable and that the comprehensive planner has no basis for legitimacy as a profession. According to him, the only claim to “legitimacy” that comprehensive planners have is that they are experts who know and measure the public interest. Since measuring something no one can even define is clearly impossible, Altshuler’s critique was not only true in many ways ( see Alexander 2002) but also sent a “touché” effect on the development of the idea and practice of incorporating the public interest in planning (Innes 1996). Despite these critiques, some still consider substantive public interest, which is identified through a political process. They argue that although there is pluralism and diversity , there is also consensus around some critical commonalities due to the economic, social and environmental interdependencies of our societies – as Campbell (2002) argues, we need to recognise people more by our common traits than by our differences. In her work, Innes disputes Altshuler’s critiques (Innes 1996). Findings from her study support the idea that consensus building results can often be associated with the conception of “public interest” as conceived in the unitary criterions favoured by planning theorists (and most common in the usage of the term) of the idea that it acts for the “common good”. However for a consensus group to claim to speak for a public interest, it must be widely representative of the viewpoints of the public realm. She explains that groups choose to be inclusive because they want or desire their proposal to have legitimacy in the public eye and in planning procedures. They incorporate the knowledge necessary for a workable proposal, to then put their proposal forward with broad political support (Innes 1996).

Based on those findings, if place branding were to represent the public interest, it would be through a dialogical approach of the interest base of stakeholder groups which is essentially, a political discourse. The dialogic principle relates to the public interest as an interactive process from pragmatic political discourse , to utopian dialogue and consensus among stakeholders and concerned parties. In a way, it is a framework to legitimize adopted policies as being in the public interest.. Its two main problems are its Madisonian view which assumes an unquestioned acceptance of the democratic process and the institutions that frame them. Second based on Habermas communicative

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

rationality , which focuses on the communicative practice itself, Habermas offers criteria that can be applied to planning or decision making processes to assess whether they are likely to produce decisions and collective actions that are in the public interest. Its norms are quite usable in theoretical practice, yet these criterions are considered to be self-limiting (Alexander 2002).

This dialogical approach is particularly relevant to place branding in a context of entrepreneurial governance, as stakeholder interests is clearly one of the essential components of the process that affect the infrastructure, brand articulation, brand communication and brand evalutation. If an expert is to measure the public interest, then their needs to be an objective way of aggregating multiple diverse goals , however in most cases of consensus building around stakeholders various interests, nobody asked for a measurement to be done , rather participants moved towards a strategy of action in a qualitative discursive way (Innes 1996). This essentially suggests that public interest is contextual and is constructed through discourse.

2.3 Formal intentional communication and social construction of reality

Communication is part of our everyday lives and is far from being a passive process. Communication requires interaction between individuals and actors and is necessarily at least a two way process. As we have seen in the earlier section, place branding goes through a deliberate process of communication. Formal intentional communication of places is affected by its brand articulation and interrelates with words of mouth,a brands reputation and brand experience, how the place is experienced by consumers (see fig.1). For this reason, I consider formal intentional communication not as a passive, objective and factual but as being carefully constructed thus my use of the word “framed”.

Framing is essentially the construction of ‘meanings’ or ‘symbols’ which implies an active process of agency and contention at the level of reality construction( Benford and Snow 2000). It is active in the sense that something is being done based upon a specifically formed vision, and processual in the sense of an evolving process. It entails agency in the sense that what is evolving is the work of an organization. Frames are developed, generated and elaborated. The diffusion of objects (e.g. the symbolic markers and policies, cultural ideas, items for practices) are framed so as to enhance

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

their potential resonance with the host or target culture and audience. Strategic processes are a part of a framing process that is utilitarian and goal oriented, developed to achieve a specific purpose such as recruiting new members, mobilizing current adherents, or acquiring resources. However, “framings” can also be contested and become a negotiated process which is not always under the tight control of elites and does not necessarily yield the desired outcomes. Including other stakeholders in the framing process could lead to more resilient results if we accept Gunderson and Holling’s (2002 p74) concept of panarchy - in which coordination is done ecologically and not consciously through non-hierarchically directed adaptation - which is directly opposed to the forms of power structures (oligarchy) that some elites currently use to control development (Fainstein, 2013).

In 1972, McQuail, considered one of the most influential scholars in the field of mass communication studies, defined the mass media as playing a part in “in shaping the individual collective consciousness by organizing and circulating knowledge which people have in their own everyday life and of the more remote contexts of their lives.” (-McQuail 1972 p 13). This statement not only unveiled some of the intricate framing mechanisms of mass media but also their powerful influence on people’s perceptions and understandings. In their paper, Adoni and Mane (1984) consider the study of the media and notably the social construction of reality. They explain that two basic approaches distinguish the processes of communication research. The first, approach focuses on the “social construction of reality” as an important aspect of the relationships between culture and society. The second approach concentrates on the “social construction of reality” as a type of media effect. In their work, both approaches are merged into a common theoretical framework in order to provide both a systematic conceptualization and provide a holistic approach to the topic. The social construction of reality approach is considered to be a dialectical (or discursive) process in which human beings act as the creators and products of their social world. It is essentially the consequence of a special human faculty of externalization and the objective capacity of one’s own internalized and subjective meanings, experiences and actions (Adoni & Mane 1984). Three types of realities can be found in this dialectical process: objective, symbolic and subjective reality (see figure 2)

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Objective social reality is experienced as the objective world existing outside the individual and confronting him or her as facts, it is not influenced by a person’s feelings or opinions. This reality is understood by people as reality par excellence and does not need any further verification over and beyond its simple existence. Although human beings are capable of doubting this reality, they are obliged to suspend such doubt in order to be able to perform the routine actions that ensure their existence and their interactions with others. A good example of objective reality for instance is science and physical laws that compose our world (Babbie 2006).

A second form of reality is symbolic social reality which consists of any form of symbolic expression of objective reality such as art, literature or media contents. There are multiple symbolic realities that differ due to various symbol systems. Most important in this regard is the individuals ability to perceive different spheres of symbolic reality and to distinguish among different objects that are the constituents of these multiple realities. In planning, symbolic markers can take a variety of forms such as linguistic tropes , planning imagery, iconic architecture, landmarks or cultural manifestations. Symbolic markers are also the visible elements of institutional change. Symbolic markers are always addressed to an audience such as stakeholders, the private sector, civic groups, consumers. They always carry non-inherent meaning and encoded messages, embedded in a web of social relations and institutional norms (Dembski 2012). For instance, a portrait of an unknown person is an image not a symbol, it is not linked to values derived from the outside picture and has no referential character outside itself (statues usually do though). Urban symbols however are “polyvocal” in the way that their meanings are interpretable and often subject to misinterpretation. They may possess an official meaning but informal reference may be attached to them thus enforcing or neutralising the original meant intention . Urban symbols are related to urban community and are submerged in a realm of symbolism of personal institutional national and even international character, they may concern the whole urban community or simply parts of it (Nas 1998).

Third and finally, there is subjective social reality in which both objective and symbolic realities serve as an input for the construction of the individuals own subjective reality. Both the objective world and its symbolic representations are fused into an individual’s consciousness. When dealing with a dialectic process, the subjective reality provides the

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

basis for the individuals social actions and ensures the existence of objective reality and the meaningfulness of its symbolic expressions. An individual’s subjective reality is organized in terms of “zones of relevance” which differ on the basis for their distance from the here and now and the individuals immediate sphere of activity. Social reality is perceived along a continuum based on the distance of its elements from the individuals everyday life experiences (Adoni & Mane 1984). The social elements and actors with whom the individual interacts and experiences frequently in face to face situations are part of a close zones of relevance . The remote zones of relevance are composed of general more abstract social elements that are not accessible to direct experience for example “public opinion” or the “social order “ and in my case public interest which form symbolic realities.

The notion of close-remote social elements is important because it provides a dimension along which the elements of the three types of reality can be classified and related to the micro and macro-levels of social life (namely micro and macro-societal).

Figure 2. Social construction of reality (Adoni & Mane 1984 p327)

According to the media dependency hypothesis – the degree of media contribution to the individual’s construction of subjective reality is a function of one’s direct experience with various phenomena and consequent dependence on the media for information about these phenomena. The dialectical process of the social construction of reality can be defined as a system consisting of two dimensions – type of reality (objective, symbolic and subjective) and distance of social elements from direct experience (see figure 2).

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Correspondingly to “close” and “remote” zones of relevance, Benford and Snow (2000) considered the idea of “resonance” in the context of social movements, and questioned why some framings seem to be effective or ‘resonate’ while others do not. Their findings show that degrees of resonance are dependent upon the credibility of the proffered frame and its relative salience (noticeable or important). They identify three dimensions of salience. Centrality which involves how essential the beliefs values and ideas associated with movement frames are to the lives of the targets of mobilization. Experiential commensurability which hypothesizes that the greater the framings can associate with everyday experience of targets of mobilization the greater the probability of mobilization. If the framings are too abstract and distant from the lives and experiences of the target their salience would be diminished (similar to the brand evaluation of the place brand management model figure 1). And finally, narrative fidelity which is understood as whether the proffered frames or storyline is believable. In modern societies, communication technologies have enabled rapid diffusions of ‘resonance’ due to the general public’s ease of accessibility to relevant documents, videos, forums and other sources. Large Scale Projects (LSPs) (and the societal elites who govern them) may take advantages of these means of diffusion to express their “visions” and market their “plans”.

The idea of resonance can also be found in branding. When considering brand relationships, the aim is to focus on the best relationship and identification that the customer has with the brand. The brand resonance refers to the nature of the relationship that customers have with the brand and the extent to which they feel in “synch” with the brand . This is usually observed by the depth and psychological bond that customers have as well as the level of activity engendered by this loyalty (higher consumption rates , the extent to which customers seek brand information, events and so on). Two of his brand resonance dimensions seem particularly relevant to places . One of them is Sense of community resonance and means the brand takes a broader meaning to the customers in terms of a sense of community . Identifying with a brand community means that customers feel a kinship or affiliation with other people associated with the brand. Such connections can involve brand users, customers, employees or even representative of companies. The other is active engagement which occurs when customers are willing to invest time, energy, money, or other resources

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

into the brand beyond expenses committed during purchase or consumption of the brand. For example, they may choose to visit brand related websites, participate in chat rooms, in this case, customers become brand ambassadors on behalf of the brand strengthening the brands network (Keller 2001). While these two resonance categories are mainly tailored to branding products or services, it does not sot seem unimaginable to consider both sense of community resonance and active engagement as being applicable to places, however both are more perceived as outcomes that gives an idea of a brands evaluation.

2.4 Conclusion of literature review

Place branding has emerged as a new term and a concept which is meant to truly embody a places identity beyond its utilitarian functions. By incorporating stakeholders wants and needs in the construction of a place brands identity, similarities can be found with a dialogical conception of public interest which is formed through agreement and consensus among various stakeholders. The quality of stakeholder relationships are crucial and provide a way to evaluate the quality of a brand by achieving a sense of community and active engagement, however the way these relationship are evaluated depends on the levels of resonance achieved. Inherently when communicating the quality of those relationships on mass media, a social construction of reality takes place. Both close and remote social elements which are both objective and symbolic affect individuals subjective reality and if the branding is truthful and transparent a narrative fidelity should be ensued between real life and what is communicated on templates, websites, videos and other communication tools. However, although “close” social elements (micro-societal) more easily relate to peoples everyday lives and instantly benefit their experience and understanding, more remote social elements such as symbolic reality (macro-societal) are more abstract and are not necessarily directly experienced by the targeted audience. The aim of this thesis will therefore be to investigate how the abstract notion of public interest is communicated in place branding.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Chapter 3 Research Methods

3.0 Introduction to research methods

The ambition of my study is to understand how public interest is communicated in place branding in a context of entrepreneurial governance. Due to the increasing development of projects in the city of Amsterdam , two public-private partnership projects of different scales, namely Zuidas and De Hallen were chosen with a research framework based on formal intentional communication, words of mouth and brand experience which I perceive as forming a social construction of reality. In addition, a feedback session was conducted with two planning professionals, the following can be found in the appendix.

In the previous chapter, I discussed the theoretical aspects of place branding, public interest and communication. I also have to some extent attempted to operationalize those terms. The aim of this chapter is to build from the theoretical framework and construct a strategic research methodology adapted to my study. Section 3.1 deals with the research design of my thesis and provides an explanation for selected case studies. Section 3.2 provides a research framework and methods based on formal intentional communication, words of mouth and brand experience. Section 3.3 discusses the research methods used in relation to the three communicative dimensions. Finally section 3.4 will give a short overview of what has been discussed in the chapter.

3.1 Research Design

A research design is an overall strategy that is chosen by integrating different components of a study into a coherent and logical way in order to answer a problem statement. It constitutes the framework for an analysis and the measurement of data. In order to answer the main research question, a comparative analysis of development projects using place branding is used. The aim was to investigate similarities and differences that can be found in the communicative strategies employed in “place

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

branding”. Notably, the research focused on the communicated objective, symbolic and subjective construction of reality that relate to the public interest in its dialogical form. Case study designs are often used to narrow down a very broad field of research into one or a few easily researchable examples. It is useful for testing whether a specific theory or model actually applies to phenomena in the real world. Social scientists, in particular, make wide use of research design to examine contemporary real-life situations and provide the basis for the application of concepts and theories (Bryman 2012).

Sources of information include websites, vision documents, comments from social media platforms and picture that account for the branding of places and their social construction of reality. The data collected relied upon criteria selected on the basis of “public interest” in its dialogical form and as constructed through discourse of the Amsterdam 2040 vision document, this also provided an intertextual basis. Simply analysing content criteria of formal intentional communication tools was considered to be too exclusive and limited. The research was therefore complemented by two further units of analysis “words of mouth” and “brand experience” that influence brand communication as discussed in the literature review. These will be explained in further detail in the following section. The city of Amsterdam is selected for a number of reasons. First, it has experienced city branding with the online “Iamsterdam” website platform for over a decade and its communication strategy is fairly prominent, the success of the logo with visitors, one of which can be found at Museumplein, is an example of its popularity. In a Dutch governance system, the participation of private sector actors is organised centrally and has seemingly better balance between public and private sector interest (Tasan-Kok 2010). Amsterdam is thus a good example of a city characteristic of “entrepreneurial governance”. In addition, English is widely spoken in Amsterdam , this made the research more easily accessible and achievable for a non- Dutch speaker. Two projects were the focus of my analysis De Hallen, a regeneration project of an old tram station initiated from the bottom up by residents of the area; and Zuidas, a megaproject initiated by Dutch national banks and the government in a top down manner in the aim of creating a new central business district for Amsterdam which eventually took a more multifunctional approach and is still under completion. Both developments figure in the city of Amsterdam’s “big projects” plan and both are

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

characterized by their recent development . The selection depended upon the availability of “place branding” resources on these projects such as websites or vision documents and if the content was available in English. By comparing both projects, I expect to find communicative differences between the bottom up and top down initiative, between micro and macro-societal elements, and different resonance levels that affect different scales. I also believe to find a different strategy or framing based on the projects specific context and identity. In addition, in order to confirm my hypotheses and findings I organised a feedback meeting with a project manager from the municipality and a senior communicative adviser for Zuidas (this feedback can be found in the appendix).

3.2 Research framework.

In order to best address the research question “How is public interest communicated in place branding?” I consider the material findings of the literature review and use the strategic place brand model as a basis for my research. The figure below shows how I link my concepts and research methods.

Formal Intentional Communication Centrality Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis

Brand Experience Word of Mouth Objective Social Reality Subjective Social Reality Fieldwork Content Analysis City Maps

Figure 3 Analytical Framework: place branding social construction of reality

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Based on the strategic place branding model, three main communicative components inter-relate - “brand communication”, “word of mouth” and “brand experience” (see figure 2 above). Because of this relationship, I consider research methods and study content that correspond to each of these components. This will be helpful to obtain a substantial amount of information and also gain a greater understanding of the brand communication strategies by incorporating the other two mechanisms.

In the case of formal intentional communication, the sources chosen are a vision document in the example of Zuidas and an official website in the case of De Hallen. These sources were chosen because they are both formal intentional communication tools used by the respective shareholders. In addition, because of their online nature, they were considered to be the most accessible information on the projects up to date and are therefore the most likely to affect a wide number of audiences considering the undeniable prominence of the world wide web in today’s society. The best research method for these sources was considered to be content analysis and critical discourse analysis for the following reasons. First, public interest considered in its dialogical form which is constructed through discourse and consensus among stakeholders. Second key words, key themes and centrality , which are essential beliefs and ideas, play an essential role with the overall resonance of a brand.

The brand experience has to do with the overall experience of a place, it gives a realistic account of what can be found on the ground. Based on this definition I will be using field research in both projects to obtain a sense of place. In addition, I will use the Amsterdam city maps in order to gain concrete factual information about these places that contribute to the public interests such as public amenities in relation to the idea of objective social reality (see section 2.4). Moreover, this will also enable me, to a certain extent, to check the narrative fidelity of the content of the formal communication tools.

Word of mouth has to do with the overall reputation of a place and its brand. Although various methods and materials are available, I used online social platforms in order to capture consumers perception of place. Online platforms Trip advisor, Instagram and Hello Zuidas . These resources were used due to ease of access, the unbiased nature of comments and images and because they were considered to reflect aspects of people

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

subjective social reality in relation to those paces. Content analysis was used in order to gain an idea of the places reputation and relationship with consumers

3.3 Research Methods

Formal intentional Communication - Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis

I used content analysis and critical discourse analysis as a research methods to identify the key words and meanings of the text and to pinpoint macro and micro-societal amenities that are presented. The formal information tools selected consist of the Zuidas 2015 Vision document and De Hallen official website.

Content Analysis

Content analysis is a classification of a text analysis. It helps identify and convey the underlying meanings behind textual dimensions through elements such as words and phrases (Yang 2008) and is used to make observations about the messages conveyed (Babbie 1999 p286). First, content analysis is particularly relevant because it is a research method primarily used for questions concerning communication content. In addition, it can provide a quantitative feature by including word counts and a qualitative aspect through the meaning of words. Second, it provides an objective and factual method to my study of “place branding” communication materials such as “vision documents” and online website. Third, it helped classify the importance of both micro and macro-societal terms found in relation to public interest, this includes stakeholders, public amenities, issues, objectives and so forth. The strength of such a method is that it is useful to interpret messages, it is inexpensive and accessible and lastly it can examine large volumes of data. Its limitation on the other hand is that it can be interpretive, making it difficult to generalize.

A quantitative approach of content analysis was used in relation to “interest” as a general connotation of one’s own benefit or advantage (whether private or public). This involves the selection of terms and words and their overall frequency within the texts. The purpose of this method is to identify the key themes and patterns as well as the importance given to micro and macro-societal components in the text.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Critical Discourse Analysis

My analysis of discourse event is inspired by a framework elaborated by Fairclough, a prominent scholar of discourse analysis. It bases itself on the text dimension and discursive practice dimension. The text dimension is the examination of the actual content , structure and meaning of the text under scrutiny (Bryman 2012). Discourse as text involves the linguistic feature and organization of concrete instances of discourse . This includes choices and patterns in vocabulary such as wording and metaphors, grammar (eg: transitivity, modality), cohesion (eg: conjunction and schemata), and text structure (e.g. episoding, turn-taking system) which are systematically analysed. This attention to concrete textual features distinguished CDA from other approaches (Bloomaert 2000). The discursive practice dimension examines the form of discursive interaction used to communicate meanings and beliefs. it sees discourse as something that is produced, circulated, distributed and consumed in society . Approaching discourse as a discursive practice implies that while analysing vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, and text structure, attention should be given to speech acts, coherence and intertextuality – three aspects that link a text to its context (Bloomaert 2000). I distinguished the analysed discourse through manifest intertextuality (which draws from other texts) by the examined English and Dutch version of the Amsterdam 2040 vision document by pinpointing the macro and micro-societal characteristics found in the text.

Discourse, is not just a mode of talking- it aims to try to makes sense of the regularities and variations in what is beings said or written. It attempts to understand social backgrounds and the social effects of specific modes of talking. A discourse is an ensemble of ideas, concepts and categorizations that are produced, reproduced and transformed in a particular set of practices and through which meaning is given to physical and social realities (Hajer 1995). In my research, I used “critical discourse analysis” to emphasize the role of language as a power resource. Discourses should be examined in relation to social structures and the power relationships responsible for occasioning them (Bryman 2012). The critical discourse analysis was used on formal intentional communication tools – the Zuidas 2015 Vision Document and the De Hallen official website. These were analysed in relation to the context of “entrepreneurial

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

governance”. In addition, because public interest is considered to be constructed by integrating different stakeholder’s interests and thus through discourse (see Innes 1996) it is considered as a particularly relevant research method. Online material is selected on the premise that it is the most accessible of resources and thus the one which is the most broadly communicated and reaches the most audiences. De Hallen official website contains a viable amount of information about the project and its history, and in the case of Zuidas, a vision document entitled “Building Blocks Zuidas Vision Document 2015” unveils an updated idea of the project and its implications..

Other aspects to take into account is that CDA involves exploring why some meanings become privileged and or taken for granted and others become marginalised. Discourse does not just provide an account of what goes on in organisation, it is also a process by which meaning is created. Because we deal with website and other online sources, we will focus on the text dimension of CDA and will look at the choices and patterns of vocabulary. The textual dimension of the CDA was conducted and evaluated based on the following terms, see below.

Vocabulary Grammar Cohesion Schemata- text structure Wording Metaphors Transitivity Conjunction Episoding Modality Turn- taking system

Vocabulary

Wording: the words used to express something; the way in which something is expressed.

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.

Grammar

Transitivity: is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take direct objects and how many such objects a verb can take. It can express an action carried from the subject to the object ; requiring a direct object to complete meaning.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Modality: Modality is about a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude towards the world. A speaker or writer can express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity and ability by using modal words and expressions. Speakers often have different opinions about the same thing. These speakers are looking at the same thing. Here are the main verbs we use to express modal meanings: Core modal verbs: can, could, may, might, will, shall, would, should, must Semi-modals: dare, need, ought to, used to Other verbs with modal meanings: have (got) to, be going to and be able to.

Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical linking within a text or sentence that holds a text together and gives it meaning. It is related to the broader concept of coherence.

Conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, sentences, phrases, or clauses.

For - Explains reason or purpose (just like “because”) And - Adds one thing to another Nor - Used to present an alternative negative idea to an already stated negative idea But - Shows contrast The soccer in the park is entertaining in the winter, but it’s better in the heat of summer. Or - Presents an alternative or a choice The men play on teams: shirts or skins. Yet - Introduces a contrasting idea that follows the preceding idea logically (similar to “but”) I always take a book to read, yet I never seem to turn a single page. So - Indicates effect, result or consequence I’ve started dating one of the soccer players, so now I have an excuse to watch the game each week.

Schemata is a high-level complex knowledge structures (van Dijk, 1977) that help the organisation and interpretation of one's experience. "Schemata lead us to expect or predict aspects in our interpretation of discourse" (Brown & Yule, 1983, p. 248). Schemata help explain why a text is understood easier and faster if a title is provided. • Schemata can also be culture-specific; for example the schema of a wedding ceremony varies culture by culture. and text structure (e.g. episoding, turn-taking system) should be systematically analysed.

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Episoding each of the separate instalments into which a serialized story or radio or television programme is divided.

Turn taking is the manner in which orderly conversation normally takes place. Turn taking has two central aspects: frequency which is the amount of turn taking in a conversation and control of contribution which is the amount of control a person has over what to say and how much to say, it is considered to be either free for all, negotiated or rule dependent.

Brand Experience - Fieldwork and City Maps

Fieldwork in Zuidas and De Hallen was conducted on several occasions as well as research on Amsterdam city maps. This was done in order to gain an insight of the brand experience by interacting with the physical components of the project, to verify the narrative fidelity of the formal intentional communication content and to gain an objective social construction of reality from factual information.

Ethnography starts from the optimistic idea that the world and its social situations are a laboratory for observing relationships of social life but also the meanings people have with places. The aim is to understand how the “other” experiences certain places (Verloo 2015). However, ethnography mainly focuses on people’s behaviour so although some participant observation was done, I refer to the research method as field work rather than ethnography on the selected development projects. This contributes to an insight of the people who use those places and an understanding of the functions of those places in the public eye. In addition, it provided a basis to check the narrative fidelity of the content found in formal intentional communication. As a researcher I was able to collect data on narratives and numbers. Most data collected includes things that I saw or heard. Quantitative data on the other hand are based on methods like direct observation. The fieldwork involved acting like a participant observer which involved observing and recording some aspects of life around me (in which case they are observing participants) acting as an insider (Russel Bernard 2011). As a participant observer, if you stand in one spot long enough, people will start to notice you. The reason is that you are not part of their routine or that in some cases you may have no business here. In addition, if you write things on a notepad , this makes things more

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

curious yet (LaFarge 2000 p20).The research method was applied on two separate occasions for both projects, once on a week day and the other during the weekend during mild and non-rainy weather. The experience was then transcribed into a narrative which can be found in the appendix. And a table on a specific day was implemented in chapter four. The fieldwork took place by taking into account the time and place of observation and with the following units of analysis in mind : visitors customers, physical accessibility and components , consumers patterns of overpriced shops, patterns of behaviour, consumers of the place – tourist – locals –how?- description of the physical space- new/ old well maintained – language used by actors – interactive patterns between actors – presence of actor groups which can be distinguished by sex, age, kinship or other vocational identity.

City maps were used in order to get an objective construction of reality based on factual data. The Amsterdam city maps website was used as a research tool and several layers of the maps were selected based on public interest themes that concern the environment, public amenities and home prices. The units which appeared in the studied zone of Zuidas and De Hallen were then counted one by one and inserted into a table (see chapter 4).

Words of Mouth – Content Analysis

A brands communication is affected by “word of mouth” which is essentially the reputation of the brand communicated between and by people who have experienced the brand and their perceptions about it. Because of this relationship, I consider it useful for my research to look into social media platforms Tripadvisor, Instagram, and Hello Zuidas. This provided an insight on consumers perception and experience of the places studied. According to O’Connor (2008) the web is evolving from a business-to- consumer marketing media to one where current generations sharing data has become a norm. As a result, it has become more difficult to carefully frame a marketing message in front of the consumer. During the consumer decision making process, potential customers can access large amounts of data to evaluate alternative places of consumption. As a result, instead of the marketer deciding on how information is presented and consumed , the "user" is now in control.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

“Tripadvisor” is an American travel website company that provides reviews of travel related content which also includes interactive travel forums. It is considered to be one of the largest travel sites in the world with more than sixty million members. The website is characterised user-generated content , which is any form of media content created by users of an online system or service often made available by social media websites (Chua & Al 2014). The website services are free to users, who provide most of the content through their reviews of the places they have visited .The biggest threats to websites such as TripAdvisor are a loss of credibility. While far from conclusive. a study conducted by O’Connor (2008) suggest that such fears are unfounded. In addition, reviews sent by individuals are not posted to the website instantly, but are subject to a verification process which considers the IP address and email address of the author, and tries to detect any suspicious patterns or obscene or abusive language (Peterson 2011). In addition, the website allows the community of users to report suspicious content, which is then assessed by a team of quality assurance specialists. Statistics from Tripadvisor were taken from De Hallen, as well as comment content from users who have experienced the place. Because of a high majority of positive comments, I particularly looked at the negative comments as a way to also contribute to my brand experience (next section).

In 2014, the online social media platform Instagram exceeded 300 million users outnumbering Twitter's 288 million worldwide users (Delzio 2015). Instagram has increasingly started to be considered as a social channel that could contribute to the marketing mix (business tool used by marketers) after a series of studies indicated that the audience used the channel for shopping by sharing photos, making comments, liking and getting opinions . Specifically according to a study by Iconosquare, out of 16 000 users, 70 percent reported that they had previously researched a brand using Instagram. By counting likes and shares, marketers investigate which of their efforts resonate with their target audience and has a seemingly higher engagement rate. Although most of the brands affected by Instagram were considered as products, there is no reason why this could not be applicable to places as each time a picture is taken or posted by a user, the location appears on the uploaded picture. The research method consisted of searching both the “Zuidas” and “De Hallen” location on the Instagram application and using two steps during the analysis of the pictures. The observation of

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

the photograph and the examination of individual items such as people, objects and activities, (by dividing the photo into quadrants and studying each section). While the second step consisted of drawing inferences on what was observed and analysed. Because of the wide number of results under both case study names, the research was narrowed to pictures uploaded with the general connotation with the area rather than specific amenities such as restaurants, bars, studios and other also located in the area. Pictures were studied one by one based on their centrality and focus and were integrated if they fitted one of the three following topics – infrastructure, any physical characteristics representative of the place, people, any pictures with people interacting or enjoying a moment in the area, and finally consumption from food, drinks, jewellery, gym and other products. Some pictures were not accounted for due to irrelevance with the object of the study, double counting or official promotional advertisements using the platform for direct marketing purposes. The aim was to obtain an broad idea of the image associations and relationships that Instagram users had with both Zuidas and De Hallen.

Hello Zuidas is an area management organization which aims to optimize the functioning and attractiveness of Zuidas. To do so Hello Zuidas works closely together with its members that are both public and private parties located in the Zuidas area. The management firms initiative of ABN AMRO, Accenture, Amsterdam RAI, Gemeente Amsterdam (Zuidas Amsterdam and Stadsdeel Zuid), Loyens & Loeff, ORAM, Royal Zuid (Bouwfonds, Eigen Haard and ERA Contour), Verkeer.advies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, World Trade Center Amsterdam and Zuidschans (AM, Amvest and Bouwfonds). The goal is to promote a district with an international appeal, with high quality working and living conditions. The effect will be that the Zuidas will stay attractive for all persons and organizations located in this area. Hello Zuidas initiates a broad cooperation between all involved parties, including Dienst Zuidas en Stadsdeel Zuid. And encourages people to participate through its online website platform with its already 186 members ( Hello Zuidas management organisation 2016). The method consisted in selecting words of mouth from the website based on the public interest themes of the Zuidas vision document. The content of the comments was then analysed in conjunction to the Zuidas building block document.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

The use of such online social media platforms can help gain a non-framed conception of places especially when those do not necessarily have a positive connotation.

3.4 Conclusion

It is important for a research design to be as coherent and logical as possible in relation to the given problem and the main research question. My objective is to understand how “public interest” is communicated by researching the kind of discourses which are communicated and by contrasting these narratives with the overall reality of these spaces. It is for those reasons that I have selected content analysis, critical discourse analysis and fieldwork as my research methods. The overall collected data will primarily be of qualitative nature and based on the three communicative dimensions of formal intentional communication, words of mouth and brand experience.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Chapter 4 Case study research- De Hallen and Zuidas

4.0 Introduction to the chapter.

This chapter deals with the case study and research topics of the thesis. Its aim is to apply the research methods discussed in chapter three and unveil characteristics of the concluding section of my literature review (chapter two) in order to comprehend how “public interest” is communicated in place branding.

Chapter 4.1 gives a quick account of the power of municipalities in land use planning in the Netherlands and Chapter 4.2 explains how these are proactive in planning with a focus on the city of Amsterdam and its overall structural vision, this will enable us to have an idea of the macro-societal objectives of the city by looking at keywords found in the “structural vision document 2040” . This will also establish the discursive intertextual basis under which the two case studies will be analysed based on the discursive practice dimension (see section 3.3). Finally section 4.3 will apply the formal intention communication, words of mouth and brand experience research methods for the De Hallen and Zuidas case study (section 4.4).

4.1 The power of municipalities in the Netherlands.

In his book “Dutch land use planning” Barry Needham (2007)explains the relationships between the three levels of government in the Netherlands– municipal, provincial and national government that affect land use. He explains that today, although the municipality has to abide to national and provincial guidelines and requirements as well as E.U standards, the municipality remains the main decision maker and actor in regards to the use of its land. The planning agency which is a body and public administration has the responsibility to both prepare and execute land use policies and equally has the statutory power to exercise those functions. These planning agencies often justify their exercise of power and actions as acting in the public interest (Needham 2007).

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The Dutch Spatial Planning Act is based on the assumption that Dutch planning agencies carry out their spatial planning passively. For instance, this could mean that the planning agency makes a land use plan and that private individuals and companies will start the building or infrastructure in accordance to that plan. The spatial planning act does not provide any provision for pro-active planning, that is to say when a planning agency is involved in realizing its own land use plan. It is true that the law has given planning agencies the power to act passively but it has given them no explicit power to act pro-actively.

However it is clear, notably at the municipal level that passive planning does not allow these government entities to achieve their ambitions, thus, land use planning in the Netherlands is actually pro-active. This does not mean it is illegal but rather that these actions go in accordance to other laws of the public realm, private law (contract law, property rights) and European Union principles. Pro-active planning can be done in different ways such as providing information, applying financial stimuli, by exhorting or controlling land ownership (as the Dutch governments have often played the role of land developers). The principle is that land ownership is used as an instrument for land use planning ( Needham 2007). For instance , an Active municipal land policy is a method by which the municipality buys the land that is to be developed , erects the buildings, links it to services and retains shared facilities (infrastructure and public space) and sells the serviced building plots to developers commercial or non- commercial. This method however is a gamble and risks are often associated with it.

Municipalities’ Vision

A structure plan is an indicative document and which presents a vision of how the planning agency wants to see its area used. It is usually made by municipalities, provinces or the national government. Today, the promotion of major development projects and the making of development strategies remain important areas of the city councils activity these can explicitly be found in formal development plans known as “structuurplannen” (Healey 2010). The content of these plans is usually built through envisioning which is a process by which individuals - preferably groups- develop vision of future states for themselves, their organisation, their city, or their region that are

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sufficiently clear and powerful to arouse and sustain the actions necessary for these visions to become a reality (Albrecht 2010).

In their paper, Salet and Bertolini explain that for a structural plan to be effective, it must take in to account different facets, this includes two dimensions, the first involves vitality and learning potential and the need for a multifunctional and poly centric city , the second dimension or condition relates to both physical and institutional access this involves physical accessibility and institutional accessibility (the degree that space can or cannot be used). Culturally , the city of Amsterdam and its urban economy has a characteristics history of being a meeting point for trade and a variety of specialised markets and needs to provide an innovative cultural climate. International cities are the scene for world exhibitions and international exchanges of future plans. Thus the need for meeting places which are the scenes of the populations strivings and conflicts are a place of civic exhibition ( in order to justify some of the communication components of the projects) (Salet Bertolini 2003).

Amsterdam, a quick overview

The city of Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and has been a planning and public administration laboratory since the middle of the 19th century. The city does not prosper from being the seat of government which is located in The Hague (since the middle ages). Rather, the prestige of the city goes back to the 17th century also known as the golden age of the Netherlands where Amsterdam grew to be one of the most important commercial and financial centres of Western Europe , in the 18th century the port however was overtaken by the harbours of London and Rotterdam, despite this loss in prominence , the city managed to maintain a reputation in banking ,insurance and as a stock market . After the first world war, the city became internationally famous for its successful housing policy which answered to an increase in migrants and overall population. The success was made possible upon the availability of central government subsidies for working class housing and the opportunity to give commissions to famous architects (Postuma & Al. 1989).

Municipal land policy has played a pivotal role of not just housing but the cities physical planning efforts. Since 1896, the municipality has been able to exert leverage by leasing

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its land through which it can impose conditions notably on the appearance and nature of the needed development. The city has been characterised in its growth by the elaboration and implementation of strategic plans which have been an integral part of the planning doctrine-these can be divided into three – (1) orderly and systematic form of the expansion of the city (2) good town planning (3) the bringing about of a well maintained environment) (Postuma & Al 1989).In the late 70's the city of Amsterdam structural plan included the adoption of the Compact city policy which focused on both the access and proximity of the city. This was done by paying particular attention to public transport. These structure plans can also be considered as being a way for the city to promote itself and potentetial investors.The structural plan can be not only considered as a promotion component but also as the result of a politically charged process by which consensus was formed within the municipal council and consultation of other government agencies and pressure groups (Postuma & Al 1989).

A century of planned development in Amsterdam

The city of Amsterdam is world renowned for its old urban core, cultural heritage and rings of canals that are both attractive to tourists and residents, expanding onto a landscape of flatlands and networks of waterways in majority reclaimed from the sea. Managing such an environment whether for farming or urban development has meant that collective action was a necessity and will continue to be in the face of climate change and rising sea levels ( Healey 2010; De Vriejs & Al 2009). Partly because of this physical context both the national and local government have played key roles in terms of water management and providing locations as well as funding for urban development.

Amsterdam city council has come through its land reclamation works a freeholder of most of the city area but is also a very pro-active agent in the development of its area as it maintains leverage over development works. Spatial planning has therefore been for many years been a key government activity and has often been praised and recognised internationally for the quality of its place management and development work. The National framework in the Dutch Big Cities Policy (BCP) explains how Dutch local authorities depend on Central government t funding, with more than 80 percent of their

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income being dependent on government grants. The BCP aims to resolve urban problems since 1994, in 31 cities including Amsterdam . Similar to the objectives of the European Union’s (EU) Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the national government BCP focuses on strengthening the economic competitiveness of the country. This appeal to market orientation through the Organisation of BCP is divided in five objectives. (1) steering on results; (2) less bureaucracy; (3) policy transparency; (4) a specific set of measures for the city to make its own choices or take a tailor-made approach; (5) steering with an integrated approach (Kokx & Kemper 2010). These policies are also stirred due to a decrease in central governments budget that wishes to increase processes that link local government and private sector financial resources.

Why market Amsterdam?

Amsterdam is a city with a long tradition of trade and entrepreneurialism. However, its position as an international cultural hub has for some time been threatened by sharpening competition as both a business destination and conference centre (Kavaratzis 2006). Furthermore, the Dutch system is equally facing an erosion of its welfare state, notably in the face of the financial crisis where considerations about the costs of reclaiming land and leading development are being more carefully prioritised. Over the past twenty years tensions have emerged between planner’s ideals about compact cities and the emerging realities of multi-networked and multimodal urban agglomerations. And are continuously criticised by an active civil society culture, it is this same civil society that has maintained the idea of Amsterdam as a place of continual and careful public attention (Healey 2010).

”The qualities that make an attractive place to live, work and do business in, as well as more inclusive and environmentally sustainable than many other cities, are in part the result of sustained planning- oriented, place governance effort.” (Healey 2010 p173).

4.2 Intertextuality and Analysis of the Structure Plans

In this section, I delve in policy documents issued by the municipality of Amsterdam in order to identify the keywords and terms used in relation to the notion of “public interest” in order to establish an intertextual discursive basis. This analysis builds on

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the notion of a “macro-societal” construction of reality and its “close /remote” conception. The policy documents consist of the “Amsterdam Structural Vision 2040”- (English and Dutch version). The results of this study will help to assess what is considered within the public interest in the context of Amsterdam and establish a basis for the research on the “formal intentional communication” and fieldwork research of the case studies – Zuidas and De Hallen” and are summed up below.

“The Structural Vision is a framework of analysis for spatial plans and provides the basis for setting the city's investment agendas, but first and foremost the Structural Vision is a visionary scenario for the future. In the Structural Vision, Amsterdam City Council sets out its ambitions for the period 2010 to 2040.”

English Text Amsterdam Structural Vision 2040

The text aims to articulate the ambitions of Amsterdam’s city council for the future. It promotes itself as being the result of shared negotiations and integration of the public such as citizens, social organisations and business organisations. The plan draws on several spatial targets that include: the densification, transformation, access, public spaces and green spaces and the use of sustainable energy within a wider metropolitan context. The public interest is thus mandated through greater access and development of public amenities and greater use of renewable energies and sustainable materials, this however remains rather abstract – thus the need to delve in the more extensive Dutch version of this policy document.

Vision Structural Plan 2040 (Dutch Version)

The plan wishes to reinforce the position of Amsterdam on the international scene using its environmental and physical assets such as its historic infrastructural heritage and the cities close relationship with water.

The vision has a strong focus on "people" - that shape the vitality and economic strength of the city. To attract people is a commitment of the city. The municipality realizes that people are the main component that makes the city successful by influencing the life, economy and drive of the city. In addition, it emphasizes micro- societal aspects of everyday life in order to give a close (as opposed to remote) idea of reality. It is recognised that by promoting aspects of life such as parks, community centres and

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other public amenities allow people to meet which is one of the main causes for the drive of business ideas and entrepreneurialism. Its vision heavily relies on human capital and is human centred. In addition it also considers the city region in regards to its access and ways of making it more attractive. The climate proof development of the city as regards to environmental and climate hazards also plays an important role (green and water) with the introduction of an environmental assessment committee. Transparency and public awareness are key in developing Amsterdam. Amsterdam’s economy is characterized by seven promising economic sectors: information and communication technologies (ICT), creative industries, finance loan business services, life sciences, commerce and logistics, tourism and conferences and food, fish and flowers. New infrastructure investment heavily depends on available resources, although the municipality of Amsterdam promotes this "ideal" plan, this one cannot be realised on a financial level without the help of private entities. Thus these investments depend on the availability of resources also use social cost benefit analysis and are underpinned by necessity and usefulness. Otherwise we can characteristically find in the document the three pillars of sustainable spatial development which consists of society, environment and the economy.

These “visions” provide a representation of the values and qualities of places in a holistic kind of way. This helps to draw an idea of place through which different attributes, interests and specific project proposals can be linked (Healey 2010 p36) in addition such expressions of place imagery are by no means neutral in their content and their effects. These ideas about place qualities stem from arenas of discussions among various stakeholders and flow into material forms and eventually become embedded in land use and building regulations (Healey 2010).

Macro-Societal Micro-Societal

- People - Live, work, play, access - Environment (Green and Water) - Parks, public amenities - Transport Network (Accessibility) - Cycle routes, wider metropolitan region

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Map 1 ‘Vision Map’ of the Structural Vision 2011. (City of Amsterdam Physical Planning Department 2011 p.8/9). This map displays Amsterdam as a city expanding to become a wider metropolis.

Map 2. Big projects in the city of Amsterdam (city of Amsterdam 2016) This map shows us the current areas that are affected by development projects in and around the city.

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4.3 De Hallen Case Study

De Hallen or "the Halls" was originally a functional complex for the maintenance of the first electric trams during the early 20th century. The tram depot is characterized by long bricked blocks with monumental facades facing the street and is today considered as a national monument which has gone through regeneration. De Hallen was built in two phases between 1901 and 1928, because it is the only remaining tram depot in the Netherlands that has remained in its original state and due to its impressive architectural design it is today considered as a National Monument since 1999. The building had some advocates including residents and architects who fought for the buildings preservation and re-use. The regeneration of De Hallen, included a vision which attempted to merge with the design of the building whilst adding new functions that would be appropriate to the space within the building. Overall, the regeneration program involved a total of 22.000m2 of which 16.000m2 was consecrated to Movie Halls, 9 Television studios, 2 libraries, 2 restaurants, a food court,, a craft centre, small business and retailers, a gallery, Re-Cycle, House of Denim ,Kinki Academy, One Media, a Nursery Stay World Kids, Grand & Johnson Under hall 1, 2 and 3 a car- and bicycle parking (6.000 m²).

The essential aim of the vision was to give a new life to the industrial monument or "brownfield" which had an undoubtable connection with the history of Amsterdam. Before the start of the renovation project, the Halls building was in a deplorable state and a crumbling remnant located in the heart of multicultural 19th century district. The vision included four objectives. First, to make the infrastructure into a high quality complex that will benefit Amsterdam West as soon as possible. Second, to connect the infrastructure with the needs and desires of the neighbourhood as well as giving the

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area a metropolitan edge. Third, to make the realization of the re-development project both realizable and operational in financial terms. Fourth, to make the building both accessible and connected to the district and the wider public.

Funding

The total investment for the regeneration program came down to 37.5 million euros of which 32.2 million included construction and installation costs. In 2007, the architect office was contacted for the redesign of the tram depot was conducted by real estate developer Burgfonds. However, with the design phase of the infrastructure completed in 2009 and all the planning requirements were fulfilled. Due to the 2008 financial crisis and political decisions, the project did not take off. In 2010, the city council searched for new developers with a new vision for the old tram depot but there was a need for coordination and agreement between the developer and the residents wants and needs. Two development stood up , TROM (Tram Remise Ontwikkelings Maatschappij) were eventually chosen. It seems clear that during its re-generation phase, the municipality lead project attempted through negotiations with the private developer (TROM) to make both the process and outcome as acting for the residents wants and needs (interest) as much as possible. In 2015, the Halls won the Europanostra award for site conservation. It was praised by the jury for its modest yet appealing renovations and its success in integrating new functions to the place whilst retaining its original essence. The neighbourhood and squatters were equally praised for their pro-active involvement and help during the buildings restoration, making The Halls a truly “local initiative” that even today serves as a local multicultural centre for its neighbourhood (Europanostra 2015). In addition, the food Hallen is now considered to be one of the top twenty things to do in Amsterdam.

Communication platforms

Various communicative platforms can be found for De Hallen, two formal, which include the De Hallen official website and a Dutch e-book of 200 pages which explains the development process of the area including the TROM development groups, public actors and civil society. Informal communication platforms for De Hallen are various, however both Tripadvisor and Instagram were selected due to their popularity.

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Map 3. Big projects in the city: De Hallen (City of Amsterdam 2016)

De Hallen Formal Intentional Communication

As opposed to Zuidas, De Hallen does not characterize itself by a vision document, rather, all information related to it is found on its official website as a form of communication between the place and the world wide web. The website is characterized by four headings: Contact/route, Meeting Space, Tours, The Building, New. The content of each heading as regards to public interest contains the following.

Table 1. Content Analysis De Hallen

Word Repetition Public 14 intances Private 9 instances Stakeholder 3 instances Public-private 0 instance People 24 instances

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Everyone 0 instances Scale Local 20 instances National 9 instances Regional 1 instance International 12 instances Stakeholders Residents 15 instances Entrepreneur 4 instances Students 11 instances Organization 7 instances Business 5 instances Investors 4 instances City Council 1 instances Other Amenities 1 instances Accessibility 15 instances Metropolitan/metropolis 3 instances

Table 2 Critical Discourse Analysis De Hallen

Grammar Transitivity- direct objects  everyone, we, cyclists, visitors, Zuidas, users, you, schoolchildren, it.

Modality Core modal verbs: Can(36) could (8) may (1) might (1) will (47) shall (0) would (3) should (2) must (2) Semi-modals: dare (0) need (9) ought to (0) used to (0) Other verbs with modal meanings: have (got) to (1) be going (0) to and be able to (0)

Schemata (titles and subtitles) :

Contact Route Meeting Space Tours –Guided tours through and around De Hallen Amsterdam

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The Building – The Building Photobook Hallenkwartier History

The passage Description of the Heritage

The tenants of the Halls Detailed description Hall 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Financial structure State of the Heritage Other participants Parking and bicycle parking Accessibility Hall 17

News -

Home Calendar In De Hallen -

OBA EENMEDIA WERELDKIDS REMISE47 LOCAL GOODS MARKET APARTMENTS DE HALLEN FOODHALLEN HALTE 3 MEAT WEST JEAN SCHOOL CHARLIE & MARY MONIQUE BROUNS AMSTERGEM RECYCLE BEELDEND GESPROKEN FILMHALLEN DE HALLEN STUDIO’S GRAND & JOHNSON HOTEL DE HALLEN DENIM CITY KINKI ACADEMY KINKI LAB

Conjunctions: For (152) And (481) Nor (0) But (25) Or (213) Yet (3) So/Also (129)

Turn taking System: 1 ) Frequency – 19 2) Control of Contribution – N/A

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Figure 4 Word Cloud - De Hallen In this word cloud we clearly see the terms neighbourhood, public, markets and passage stand out. This can provide and idea as the nature of De Hallen and its area of influence.

Brand Experience – De Hallen

Fieldwork

Table 3 Fieldwork De Hallen

Time Place Object of Observations observation 11h50 Surrounding area of De Hallen- De Hallen A lot of roadworks and tram am along Kinkerstraat- direct line renovations along Bilderdijkade- Bellamystraat- neighbourhood Kinkerstraat, De Hallen is Ten Katerstraat barely visible from this street

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and cardboard signs are placed at the start of Bildedijkade to indicate the places location Local market activity along Bilderdijkade-mainly food and grocery The sight is most visible from Bellamy straat but current infrastructure works north of the street block vision and access to the northern part of De Hallen and most of Bilderdijkade is off limits.

12h00 Walk through the De Hallen General Large bright open space hallway Observation Diversity of businesses and amenities along both sides of the corridor Bike storage access inside the main hall, two wooden benches in the main hall Two young female British, and a French couple and a girl Natural light from glass panels located at the tip of the roof of the building Second, smaller building with retail shops- antic shop, clothing, and quality products Well integrated design of brick and steel frames with remnants of the tram rails. Main outlets of the main hall

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include an extensive bike shops (sales and repairs) the food hall and the public library

12h15 Wooden bench in the main hall Composition of Along the main corridor, along the bike shop and facing passer by’s and couples, grandparents, young the part of the food hall and a behaviour children , two policemen denim shop patrolling, a few shoppers, place is relatively quiet although there is a constant flow of people (approximately 20 different individuals per minute over a 7 mn observation) This seems to suggest that the hall is also used as a means of getting from point A to point B Foot pace of individuals depends on if they are visiting the place or simply passing by Business , and 12h30 A table in the food hall food courts Small individual booths with an international character – Spanish, Korean, Japanese, French, Italian and other cuisines- unique products for most, which differ from mainstream food consumptions The people working in the booths are in majority young adults in their 20’s and thirties More American and French tourists Price range from 2 to 20 euros for food and drinks

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Relaxed atmosphere with a variety of people from different 13h10 End of the observation age groups

Table 4 Map overlay De Hallen

Green, Nature and Farming 0 ecological structures 0 ecological passages (fauna passage and underpass) 0 beehives 0 parks within or in the direct vicinity – Buitenveldert, Beatrixpark, Amstelpark, Buitenveldert sports park (under development) 0 chestnut trees, 0 monument trees 2 quay wall plants 0 city farming location 0 local farming products used in Hotels/ restaurants or cafes 0 wild honey bee hive

Energy 0 private solar panels 0green roofs n/a buildings with A or B rating on energy savings 2 with G and 2 with D.

Leisure 0 public playgrounds (football field, fitness, tennis, basketball, beach volley) 1 sunspot (fountain)

Housing and living 0 student housing developments Property value 4000-4500 euros per m2

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Words-of-Mouth of De Hallen

Trip Advisor Reviews- The Halls.

Table 5 Trip Advisor stat review - De Hallen

Examples of reviews from the food Hallen.

“Overpriced hipster hangout”

Reviewed 22nd March 2016 via mobile by an Amsterdam local.

“Hipster heaven! Over priced, over crowded and overrun with self absorb selfie-taking bints and Mac toting bearded wonders. The level of service is atrocious, and these food stalls understand neither the concept of customer service nor the idea of having food ready to serve without having to wait 15 minutes for an overpriced hotdog or chicken wing! Best avoided like the plague.”

Visited March 2016

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Reviewed 17th April 2015 via mobile by an individual from Woudenberg, The Netherlands

“A little bit outside of the center, but worth the tramtrip. Old brick building, artistic environment. In the middle a nice bar with contemporary drinks (had a USA IPA beer), along the walls there are food court bars with Moroccan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Burger, etc restaurants. YUP and hipster audience, so the standard is quite high. Sophisticated street food.”

Visited April 2015

P.N All of the above information can be found under the reference Tripadvisor 2015

Instagram

Table 6 Instagram - De Hallen

Name of Instagram Group Image Content De Hallen Amsterdam Publications 215 People 87 pictures Consumption 18 Infrastructure 72

Kinkerstraat De Hallen Publications 87 People 39 Consumption 9 Infrastructure 12

Instagram pictures for De Hallen (2016)

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4.4 The Case of Zuidas, Amsterdam

Since the 1960s, the growth of the banking sector and other service activities could no longer be accommodated in the historic city centre of Amsterdam. Due to this lack of space, large scale office development in the 1970s and 1980s generally took place in the peripheral areas of Amsterdam such as Amstelveen, Amsterdam South East and Buitenveldert. It was not until the 1990s that local authorities decided that the city needed high quality office locations with easy access from the ring road rather than the choice of a waterfront development along the river Ij (Trip, 2007; Salet, 2008). International banks, notably ABN/AMRO and ING, were motivated to move their headquarters to an area along the ring road with easy access to Schiphol, thus they initiated the development of the Zuidas ((Trip, 2007). )which was to become a mono- functional central business district with high rise buildings rivalling those of Canary Wharf in London and La Defense in Paris.

The project was later supported by the municipality and when the city planners joined the project in 1998, a new frame of shared cognition was negotiated aiming at the development of a vibrant urban centre based on multi-functionality (Salet, 2008). The project, supervised by design architect Pi de Bruijn, was called Masterplan Zuidas, and the project’s plans gradually developed to became a planned mixed use area for offices, apartments and other functions. One of the main aims of the project was to establish Zuidas as a distinct second centre for the city with a unique high-end, metropolitan atmosphere attractive to international business; its design was also to be physically appealing and the new urban district was meant to complement that of the city centre (Trip, 2007; City of Amsterdam, 2009). Existing functions in the area

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include the Vrije Universiteit (VU), the University Hospital, the World Trade Centre (WTC), the Court of Justice and the RAI convention and exhibition center – there is thus potential for the area to become a significant public space as well as a burgeoning residential area (Trip, 2007; City of Amsterdam, 2009; site visit). In 2005, the book Amsterdam Zuidas, European Space was published showing an extensive collaborative study of the Zuidas area. One of the chapters from this book focused on the possible outcomes for the Zuidas area based upon the different ways it could integrate into the surrounding urban fabric as well as the use and lifestyle that would exist there. In this chapter, van Engelsdorp Gastelaars (2005) proposed three possible scenarios for the completion of Zuidas: “a scenario for a pure ‘world-class center’, a scenario for a center focused on ‘knowledge workers’, and a scenario that aims to create ‘cohesion’ between the Zuidas and the surrounding urban districts.” These three scenarios were founded upon the inconsistent claims of documents about the project published in the early 2000s: Stadsdeel ZuiderAmstel 2003; Municipality of Amsterdam 2004; Florida 2002; VROMraad 2004. In order to illustrate the characteristics of these three scenarios, the following table (Table 1) has been recreated from the original by van Engelsdorp Gastelaars (2005).

Table 7: Overview of the three scenarios (from van Engelsdorp Gastelaars, 2005)

Scenarios World-Class Centre Knowledge Workers Cohesion

Activity Exclusive and prestige companies and Facilities for knowledge- Facilities for a broader Mix high-class and luxury shops and intensive companies, services public: market, events restaurants aimed at ‘out-housing’ domestic venue work

Housing Apartment for sale for the well-off. Mid- High-rise live-work spaces. Mix of price brands, rise, some with gardens Integration with nearby areas lifestyles and housing with affordable housing for starters

Spatial Three separate clusters: Relocation of functions to other Reorganization of Clusters  VU: students and starters clusters: Exchange between the existing uses, e.g. market  Zuid/WTC: elite and city VU and other centres within RAI cluster  RAI: middle-of-the-road visitors

Plinth Small plinth to emphasis the parochial Large plinth coupled with the Medium plinth with

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nature of the three clusters public realm coupling between prestige firms and middle-of-the-road public space

Domain Domain forming on the level of the Domain forming on the level of No domain forming Forming existing clusters; possible coupling of the entire Zuidas: knowledge individual clusters with the surrounding hub areas

However, Amsterdam Zuidas, European Space was published over 10 years ago now, and since then there have been several other Zuidas policy documents that have been published (as well as physical developments) which are better able to show which of these scenarios the area seems most directed in.

Map 4 Big projects in the city: Zuidas-the Zuidas area is represented above in blue, with the railway and A10 found at its centre. The area is composed of a central business district in the centre with a few high end residential areas north of the rail line, the V.U university is located west of the area , the eastern area is composed of the world trade centre, the RAI convention centre.

Formal Intentional Communication of Zuidas

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The Zuidas vision document , recognizes that the area is no longer a cluster of elegant high rise buildings. It introduces through this communication tool five ambitions and six themes as well as its will to diversify and improve its current form. Its five ambitions include: a strong international reputation, to become a vibrant Amsterdam district, to be a place with appealing architecture, a space for bicycles and public transport, and finally a place of opportunity for experimentation (City of Amsterdam Zuidas Vision 2015).

Table 8 Content Analysis Zuidas building blocks

Word Repetition Public 68 instances Private 14 instances Stakeholder 9 instances Public-private 1 instance People 21 instances Everyone 7 instances Scale Local 33 instances National 3 instances Regional 6 instances International 32 instances Stakeholders Residents 29 instances Worker 2 instances Students 12 instances Organization 10 instances Business 41 instances Investors 5 instances City Council 2 instances Other Amenities 18 instances Vibrant/cy 12 instances Accessibility 29 instances

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Table 9 Macro and Micro- Societal trends Zuidas

Macro-Societal and Micro-Societal trends Macro-societal Environment Climate change 0 instance Sustainable 4 instances Energy 5 instances

Total 9 instances Micro Societal Environment Green 28 instances Park(s) 8 instances Public space 6 instances Micro Societal Amenities Shops 8 instances Bars 5 instances Restaurants 6 instances Sports 5 instances Leisure 5 instances Culture 3 instances Art 5 instances Canteens /Lunch venues 3 instances

Total 82 instances

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Figure 5 Word cloud - Zuidas building blocks- this word provides a visual insight of the key words that can be found in the Zuidas 2015 building bloc document with public and business being two words which particularly stand out.

Table 10 Critical Discourse Analysis Zuidas building blocks

Grammar Transitivity- direct objects  everyone, we, cyclists, visitors, Zuidas, users, you, schoolchildren, it.

Modality Core modal verbs: Can(25) could (2) may (5) might (1) will (194) shall (18) would (4) should (11) must (31) Semi-modals: dare (0) need (1) ought to (0) used to (5) Other verbs with modal meanings: have (got) to (0) be going (0) to and be able to (6)

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Schemata (titles and subtitles) : Participation

1.1 Some results: 2 Introduction: five ambitions, six themes 2.1 What has changed since 2009 and what has stayed the same? 2.2 Ambitions 3 Theme 1: International and ambitious 3.1 The situation in 2030 3.2 Action plan 2015-2020 4 Theme 2: A vibrant Amsterdam neighbourhood 4.1 The situation in 2030 4.2 Action plan 2015-2020 5 Theme 3: Connected with greenery and water 5.1 The situation in 2030 5.2 Action plan 2015-2020 6 Theme 4: Zuidas for cyclists 6.1 The situation in 2030 6.2 Action plan 2015-2020 7 Theme 5: Zuidas and accessibility 7.1 The situation in 2030 7.2 Action plan 2015-2020 8 Theme 6: Work in progress 8.1 The situation in 2030 8.2 Action plan 2015-2020 9 The vision visualized 9.1 Spatial structure in 2030 9.2 The function mix in 2030

Conjunctions: For (99) And (415) Nor (0) But (22) Or (32) Yet (3) So (16)

Turn taking System: 1 ) Frequency - 14 2) Control of Contribution – negotiated (interviews)

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Brand Experience of Zuidas

Factual Analysis of different amenities to be found in the Area using the city of Amsterdam maps (2016) Zuidas Area In order to contribute to the brand experience, it is important to take into account the physical environment. In this section, I used the city maps of Amsterdam to pinpoint different amenities located in the Zuidas area and give us an idea of the exact number of such amenities.

Table 11 Map overlay Zuidas

Green, Nature and Farming 3 ecological structures 2 ecological passages (fauna passage and underpass) 4 beehives 4 parks within or in the direct vicinity – Buitenveldert, Beatrixpark, Amstelpark, Buitenveldert sports park (under development) 22 chestnut trees, 2 monument trees 2 quay wall plants 4 city farming location (3 kitchen garden and 1 herb garden) 3 local farming products used in Hotels/ restaurants or cafes 1 wild honey bee hive

Energy 4 private solar panels 12 green roofs 3 buildings with A or B rating on energy savings 2 with G and 2 with D.

Leisure 6 public playgrounds (football field, fitness, tennis, basketball, beach volley) 1 sunspot (city beach bathing jetty)

Housing and living 2 student housing developments Property value 2500-3500 euros per m2

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Fieldwork Zuidas area

Table 12 Fieldwork Zuidas

Time Place Object of Observation(s) observation 14h35 Gustav Marleplein People, participants Plaza is characterised by green spots and physical which are enclosed in small about 50 environment centermentre high enclosure which can be used to sit down on all along, making the plaza a fairly accessible sitting space, and it seems that the design was made to seat a maximum of people Underground bike parking About 21 individuals sitting at the plaza, mainly blue collar workers from the surrounding buildings taking a break (cigarette, coffee or chat) but also some white collar workers taking a break (workers from building site) or people working in less qualified jobs (catering, restaurant, cleaning services) in addition a few individuals wearing sport clothes were to be seen. The square is partially illuminated by sunlight as the other half is covered by the building west of it In addition several tress can be found in the plaza making the space greener and more attractive 3 restaurant could be found at the bottom of the western building, 2 with terraces surrounded by gates , 1

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without (suggests a certain multi- functionality of the high rise buildings as more than just office space , most of these bar restaurants were setting tables, probably in wait of their customers later during the day Flow of people is fairly constant around 28 people per minute (over a 7 minute study) 15h15 Walk along Businesses, Debussylaan amenities and An elevated plaza was to be found spaces along the which is only accessible by climbing street upstairs, it is unclear whether the space is private or public, mainly blue collar workers to be found again taking a break. Continuing through the street, more businesses to be found and other services such as restaurants, smoothie shops, body care clinics, only one bar restaurant at the end of the street was found to mention a 20 percent discount for students on its window frame 15h30 Gustav Marlerlaan Business amenities and spaces along Similarly, the street along Marlerlaan the street is composed of restaurants and bars at the base of the buildings composed of terraces and trees along the street with a few bike racks and public seating provisions. In addition a sport centre could be found with further ongoing developments . Many bikes are stationed on both sides of the streets and bike racks are

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provided although the number of bikes is above capacity. After Gustav Marleplein no amenities can be found simply residential or office space Sportpark Buitenveldert is empty and directly in the sunlight with no shade, a few seating space can be found and a green but the space seems vacant more than anything else (maybe future developments are planned) 13h45 Along de Physical space and Mainly students are to be found Boelelaan environment, south of the street with a couple of participant children having their football session, observation A green space can be found with local farming and a small bar (adds to the green of Zuidas) the gardens seemed private but you could still go inside the area and have a drink at the bar on the outside. Rather drastic difference from the big building of VU university dotted along the otherside of the street

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Words-of-Mouth Zuidas

Hello Zuidas.

The following section displays words of mouth and quotations used on the Hello Zuidas website form various stakeholders. These can be seen below and will be discussed in chapter 5.

'I came here to study when I was 18. When I arrived in Amsterdam, I remember thinking, this is it! Amsterdam was everything I'd been looking for: a large and dynamic city. After graduating I continued to live here, while working in The Hague. It was a long commute, but I didn't mind. I also spent some time living abroad, but my roots were always in this city. After last year's municipal elections, I had the chance to become an alderwoman for Amsterdam. Working in my home town: a dream come true. In my current position, it's thrilling to find how this city is changing and being rejuvenated. Large cities like Amsterdam work like magnets: young people are drawn here to study and then land a job or start up a company. I stayed in Amsterdam after my children were born, which wasn't at all the norm back then. But now you see an increasing demand among people to live in the city.'

- Kajsa Ollongren feels alderwoman for the city council of Amsterdam -

'We can't wait to open!', 'Our concept is all about innovation and that makes us a great fit for Zuidas. Having started out with a small bike shop in Amsterdam Oud-West, we grew to several branches and now are ready to locate here.' The store has long opening hours: 'We realize that people have jobs and that's why we're open from 8am till 8pm. If you drop off your bike with a flat tyre in the morning, it will be ready to collect the same day. And if you don't discover the flat until you want leave in the evening, you can simply use one of our loan bikes. Customer service is very important to us',

-Johan Neven of Het Zwarte Fietsenplan-

'Up until around 2005, many people felt that the university was located on the fringes of the city', Franc says. 'But given the pace of city development since then, we now find ourselves back in the thick of the urban structure. We couldn't be happier, but it also made us realize that we had to think about transitioning from what used to be a relatively closed and largely independent campus to one that's far more integrated with the area and everything that is happening here. We want to make ourselves more visible to the outside world and increase our accessibility, both now and in the future. Lots of people simply pass by the campus, but everyone is welcome to use our facilities or grab a coffee here.' 'This stems from our deep-seated awareness that as a major occupant in an area undergoing massive development, we have a serious responsibility to bear', explains Franc. 'Besides, we're also renewing our energy master plan, which involves upgrading the capacity of the existing power station to guarantee a reliable, affordable, sustainable and environmentally friendly on-campus energy supply for the next 15 years.'

- Franc van Nunen, campus development director at VU university-

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'We're one of 25 organizations to have signed the statement, underscoring our commitment to sustainability efforts not only on campus, but also across the entire Zuidas district', explains Willem. 'We feel that we're an integral part of Zuidas and therefore also believe it's important to be an active local player. It's wonderful to be a part of the whole community here. Apart from the social dimensions, our main concerns are mobility and the green quality of the area. Thousands and thousands of visitors come here every day, so it's crucial that transport to and from the area is structured as sustainably as possible. And we are also working actively on water storage. One concern is to prevent flooding during heavy downpours. These are responsibilities that we all share here in Zuidas.'

-Willem Verduyn, real estate manager at VU Corporate Real Estate and Facilities (FCO), who is also the newly appointed board member of the Green Business Club Zuidas-

'I'm proud that GBC Zuidas has been able to make a visible and tangible impact', she says. 'The commitment demonstrated by everybody involved proves that sustainability isn't just for show, but is intrinsically valued by members.' - Annelinda van Dijck - van Eck of Vesteda adviser to the GBC Zuidas board for three years-

“This infrastructure, which cuts Zuidas in half, is a 'considerable barrier', says director of Dienst Zuidas Klaas de Boer. Zuidasdok, however, will change all that. 'We are going to put over a kilometer of the motorway underground, effectively halving the length of the divide.' Apart from achieving more peace and quiet, this will help unify the area, De Boer argues. 'Railway underpasses will be shorter and north and south will come closer together. There will also be a new link for pedestrians, the Brittenpassage. The new-look Amsterdam Zuid station will then have two north- south connections.'

-Director of Dienst Zuidas Klaas de Boer-

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Instagram Zuidas

Table 13 Instagram Zuidas

Name of Instagram Group Image Content Zuidas Amsterdam 313 publications People 68 Infrastructure 147 Consumption 12 Zuidas Amsterdam 226 publications People 62 Infrastructure 97 Consumption 9

Instagram picture on Zuidas (2016)

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Chapter 5 Analysis

5.0 Introduction to Analysis

The aim of this thesis was to answer the question how is public interest communicated in place branding? This was done by creating a strategic research method based on existing literature in chapter 2 and 3, which was then applied in chapter 4 through the use of content analysis, fieldwork research, interviews and discourse analysis. The following chapter gives an analysis of the results found from the research methods and will be revealed by section in accordance to chapter 3. Section 5.1 will analyse the results of De Hallen case study. Section 5.2 will analyse the results of the Zuidas, in both sections , the “brand communication”, “word of mouth” and “brand experience” framework will be followed with the according research methods

5.1 De Hallen research results and analysis

Brand experience – fieldwork and maps

The uniqueness, size and independence and cultural character of the small businesses as well as the variety of products displayed can be to a certain extent, represent some aspects of the entrepreneurial and business drive of the city as well as an attempt to reaffirm itself on the international scene. The place offers some free of charge public amenities, such as toilets, free internet access and bike storage and a public library. Not a single security agent was to be seen during the fieldwork although there was presence of cameras in and around the building. The diversity of people going there, from tourists, to locals with or without their families and friends does not seem to show that the place is tailored to a particular class of people. When you enter the place, it seems casual and no salesman tried to attract you to their booths or shop unless the consumers seem genuinely interested. The atmosphere is overall relaxed and vibrant at the same time with a bit of background music in the food hall.

Importantly, public space that are inside differ from those that are outside. They are not as public. The look of a building, the guards, the entrance according to William Whyte’s work have a filtering effect (LaFarge 2000).Inevitably, any internal space is bound to

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

have screening effect its amenities, the business located there , the level of entertainment will help determine the people who chose to come and it is not necessarily a bad thing that those people are educated and well off. But there should be other kind of people to and if there are not, then the place cannot be considered to be truly public (however, the composition of the people seen was not always explicit, on one hand, the entrepreneurs and cooks, waiter of the restaurants and food booths do not necessarily belong to a wealthy class and only the higher educated with a degree).

The place is accessible by car, bike and public transport; it is also physically accessible in terms of walking through the place, anybody can enter the building and at no time did I feel discomfort walking around the place. Quite surprisingly, it perfectly fits the surrounding urban fabric of the Kinkerbru area mainly due to the retaining of the buildings historical traits and original architecture. Moreover, it seems to be a rather positive asset to the area rather than the contrary adding both a modern yet historical vibe and resonance especially when considering its decaying and run down state prior to the development works. The reality of the space corresponds with its formal communication tool (website) and no discrepancies were to be found.

The city map data provides an objective social construction of reality. The area is clearly demarcated by a high property value ranging from 4000 to 45000 euros per m2 , in addition, apart from a small plaza, the area is not necessarily defined by outside public spaces or amenities. In addition there is no specific indication of investments made in energy savings or other environmental commitments according to the collected data of the city maps. Yet, during the fieldwork enquiry, Katerstraat was used for a local market, and pictures and events on the website do indicate that the hallway is at times used as a small marketplace for entrepreneurs. In addition, public underground bike parking as well as the library are both amenities that were not accounted for in the city maps data.

Formal intentional communication – content and critical discourse analysis

Based on results of the content analysis, the keywords of the website are people (24 instances), local (20 instances), accessibility (15) and residents (14). This suggests that De Hallen is an infrastructure that is focused on people and its residents at the local level. Accessibility plays an important role for the Halls, one which is emphasized in the

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

text by procuring maximum access for the disabled and even providing tours of the building and neighbourhood during the weekends. Additionally we also find some interesting scales of influence on the public interest at the national level because the building is considered as a national monument, at the international level, students from the Kinki academy (hairdresser) and the Jeans academy are industries which are encouraged and aiming to be renowned at an international level, this international level is also emphasized by the food hall in which multiple cuisines from around the world are available.

Based on the textual dimension of the CDA of De Hallen there is a prominence of will (47) and can (36) in modality, this suggests a willingness and ability which is reflected in the text by the will to render the space as accessible as possible. The schemata displays rather extensive titles which offer a deep understanding of the buildings, its history, and its current function by displaying all stakeholders within the building (19 in total) which can be seen as contributing to a turn taking system although the control of this contribution is unclear, the content was most probably left to the stakeholders themselves and their respective business and organization as some of them only had links to their direct website.

Words of mouth – content analysis

According to Tripadvisor, the food Hallen has resulted in a rather positive experience for most consumers which are happy with the diversity and authenticity of the place and of the services found in the location with over 216 excellent reviews and a total of 12 below average reviews. The negative review although to be taken with a pinch of salt, nonetheless gives us an insight on a consumer’s dissatisfaction as regards to the overall price of the place but also uses the term “hipster” , which is, according to the urban dictionary “a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream.” This review suggests the actual economic accessibility of the food Halls, should the food Halls, if it were to act in the public interest, be affordable for individuals of all income? However with price variations of 2 to 20 euros found during the field research,are rather standard prices to

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

be found in the city centre of Amsterdam (being a resident of Amsterdam myself). In addition toilets were free to use as opposed to some places which require you to consume to use them.

The Instagram pictures of De Hallen mainly focus on the infrastructure, especially the hallway although activities and people were not far behind. In addition there were some considerable associations with food maybe suggesting that most consumers of the space go there for this very reason or at least have this relationship with the Halls.

5.2 Zuidas, research result and analysis

Formal Intentional Communication

From the content analysis, I observed that the word “public” , “business”, “local”, “residents” , and “accessibility” are the most redundant words in the text.

According to my content analysis the five top keywords found in the 2015 Building blocks Zuidas vision document are "public" (68 instances), "Business" (41 instances) , "local" (33 instances), international (31 instances) and "Accessibility" (29 instances).

These five keywords indicate the scale at which Zuidas is positioned which is primarily at the local and international scene. Considering the area is characterized by both a central business district a university and a direct connection to Schiphol airport, the "international” scale of interest is relevant. The fact that both public and business are the most repeated words suggests that Zuidas identity is primarily one which is meant for business but the term public along with accessibility suggests that the place is not exclusively for business. With my overall understanding of the text, this analysis suggests that the Zuidas central business district, realises that if it wishes to remain attractive for “business”, it must also procure “public” amenities” and “accessibility” for the “locals” and “residents” of the area. The place wishes to be and become “vibrant” at a both “local” and “international” scale which will be done through the procurement of “green” (parks) and other public “amenities”, development of cycling routes and bike parking space, improvement of the railway which is directly linked to Schiphol airport

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

reinforcing the business districts prominence at local, metropolitan and international scale, an abandonment of a mainly car oriented transport system.

The “textual dimension” of the document indicates that, unsurprisingly for a vision document with the high use of the word “will “ which appears 194 times and other modal verbs that the Zuidas area still has much to accomplish and achieve. The overall text structure is carefully laid out with a clear and direct schema of the objectives and themes of the vision, in addition, the text uses survey material and quotations (with a frequency of 14) for the whole text which provide less of a monopoly and establishes a negotiated turn taking system making the text more participant friendly and stakeholder conscious.

Brand experience- fieldwork and maps

The Zuidas space is particularly intriguing, from my observations, there seems, although efforts are being made, a rather clear physical separation between the university buildings and the central business district mainly emphasized by the bustling main street of cars and trams that separate the two areas. A more blatant boundary exists between the North and South of the area with the A10 motorway and train tracks which separate the area from the rest of the city. The CBD in itself (although not yet fully completed) does seem to strive to attract people, the wide number of public benches and seating to be found along the street and on the plazas seem to reflect an effort at attracting people, yet they mainly seem tailored to people who work in the offices who wish to take a break and have a bit of fresh air. The integration of bars, restaurants and other services found at the ground floor of the buildings seem crucial in giving the area life and colour, as people see the tables and few people take advantage of the terraces and good weather. The space also seems to try to integrate the “green” by dotting trees along the street and providing a few green patches of grass in the plaza, south of Zuidas a man-made stream of water is being flushed through in relation to the themes of “green and water” found in the vision document. In addition the space is also used as a place of transition for people commuting from and to the Zuidas train station.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

According to Maps Amsterdam in terms of energy efficiency, the area includes 4 buildings with solar panels, 12 with green roofs and only three buildings with A or B energy ratings. Green and the environment as well as public amenities, Zuidas seem to be doing pretty well with over four parks in its vicinity and six public playgrounds available to the public which is also supported by the filedwork I lead. In addition two student residences are planned to be developed in the coming years. Coming back to the case of energy efficiency it may be that the data and information on this particular aspect may be incomplete. Overall, however, the provided data on Zuidas does indicate that the area does possess some “green amenities” and that public spaces and parks do enhance the areas multi-functionality and possibility for leisure.

Words of mouth

One of the characteristics of the website is that its sections include not only the opinion of the management organization but various stakeholders in the area. These include the director of ABN Amro, a representative of the VU campus development and organization representatives.

In addition we clearly find an attempt at resonance, for instance, the alderwoman of Amsterdam explains “cities like Amsterdam are like magnets; young people are drawn here to study and then land a job or start up a company” this short sentence already provides a narrative that correspond to the Amsterdam Vision 2040 key themes of entrepreneurialism and liveability and promotes the overall attractiveness of the place.

We also find discourses from Erik Moresco of Victory Advisors and Martine Gründemann of G&S Vastgoed which describe the ongoing developments that aim to improve the area Physical boundaries are also admittedly accepted by both the University Campus development Director and Director of Dienst Zuidas Klaas de Boer notably the A10 motorway with the expected development project of the Dyke aiming at blurring those boundaries. These boundaries were evident during my fieldwork enquiry and at least indicates that the problem is admitted and being dealt with. The integration of words of

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

mouth in website content enables it to gain more legitimacy by including other people’s voices and opinions. Because a majority of the words of mouth were answers to open ended question it is obvious that at least a certain amount of framing took place and no negative remark or connotation was found. We find again the recurring themes of “public space”, “mobility”, “community” and “sustainability” similar to those found in the vision document. What the website mainly displays is a pro-active involvement of various stakeholders in the place making of Zuidas ,with the establishment of groups such as Green Business Club Zuidas (GBC Zuidas), and also a certain association with the everyday experiences of the people that live and work there. Both macro-societal and micro-societal terms which relate to the public interest are also found– sustainable- everybody-. The objective is not hidden and rather clear, to make the place attractive by investing in the four given themes in order to resonate at local, national and international scales. Moreover, mainly official figures seemed to have had the opportunity to tell their version of the story mainly procuring a professional insight.

The Instagram picture analysis mainly revealed that users of the area consider Zuidas with 244 pictures with a focus on the built environment, in large majority this included the tall business towers of the area as well as the Zuidas station, plazas and streets from the central business district. Other pictures represented mainly food and drinks as well as the gym in the area although no particular direct relation to the place was represented. In the people pictures, the Zuidas run was present as well as people who enjoyed activities and events in the area, couples or residents. This image associations indicate that Zuidas is primarily viewed as a business district, no pictures were found relating to the Vrije University or the public parks, and no particular relation was evident as to themes such as green and water although accessibility was represented with picture on Zuidas train station and the entrance of the underground bike parking space.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Chapter 6 Conclusion

The objective of this research was to answer the question of how public interest is communicated in place branding. This has been done by delving into academic literature, developing a research framework and applying research methods. This chapter aims to review and interconnect the findings from each chapter. Section 6.1 provides an overall account and conclusion on my findings. In relation to place branding, public interest and communication. Section 6.2 is committed to a reflection on the work accomplished and the limitations and problems encountered during the writing of the thesis. Finally section 6.3 suggests further enquiry and final thoughts on the topic.

6.1 Conclusion

As we saw in chapter one, place branding aims to impact one’s perception of place in order to position it favourably in the minds of the target group. Place branding recognises that places are shaped by a wide variety of actors each with differing interests. In our contemporary societies, both public and private actors play an important role in property led urban development and big city projects in order to make cities more attractive in times of competition in a well ingrained neoliberal system. This was particularly striking when analysing the Amsterdam 2040 vision document, with a high numbers of projects and plans envisioned to consider the city as a metropolis, a vision that has deviated from Amsterdam’s compact city policy of the 70s. In order to make places attractive, the findings have found a rather positive outlook and discourse on the formal intentional communication tools, words of mouth and brand experience of Zuidas and De Hallen. In this section, I interconnect the theoretical framework and compare the research findings of both case studies.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Communication In both cases, formal intentional communication tools were used as a means to share micro-societal terms and key words that indicate an active use of place making ,one which aims to attract and connect places as “liveable” and “public” resonating closely to the everyday consumers subjective experiences. This social construction of reality was found to have a wide use of macro-societal (abstract) terms notably “public” and “sustainable”, and micro-societal material such as food, drinks and accessibility. Beyond the buzzwords of our contemporary society facing climate change and other developmental issues both of the communicative components have a close and remote effect which target a wide number of audiences (Adoni & Mane 1984). The Greek philosopher Plato’s allegory of the cave, describes a situation in which people have lived chained in a cave all of their lives and watch shadows projected on a wall by a fire behind them. The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. However, one prisoner manages to escape and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality. The outside world provides him with the true form and reality of things rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. Much like Plato’s metaphor, the place branding management model suggests that in order to understand the deeper meanings of place, we must not limit ourselves to formal intentional communication aspects, which can tend to marketing and only provide us a singular idea – rather, there is a need to incorporate the overall “brand experience” and “words of mouth” to gain a more embodied and substantial perception of place.

Outcome and comparison of the cases Although the cases differed in scale and in content, several similarities were identified. First, both places were found to be multifunctional in their usage of space, this was also reflected on their respective communication platforms. Second, both illustrated recurrent themes from the Amsterdam 2040 vision document, notably in terms of accessibility, the environment (to a differing extent) ,liveability and entrepreneurship reflected at both macro and micro-societal level. Third and finally, transparency, proactive communication, and local community or stakeholder involvement was emphasized and promoted with platforms such as “Hello Zuidas” and the e-book on De Hallen. These findings indicate that these places attempt to resonate with stakeholders

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

through active engagement and by procuring a sense of community similar to Keller’s (2001) idea of community resonance(see p20-21 of paper), supporting the idea that micro-societal components are more widely used to attract people. This is probably due to the close relational understanding these provide to the target audience. Another thing to keep in mind is that resonance levels can also be affected by a brands identity, Zuidas for instance, due to the physical presence of CBDs, the Vrije Universiteit and direct train connection to Schiphol, can resonate at a higher regional and international scale, De Hallen on the other hand has more of a local and national edge due to its bottom up nature and national monument identity. Today’s ease of access to information and media input could have to a certain extent encouraged transparency over the development of space and may have pushed place branding to emerge. The use of social media platforms to assess places such as Tripadvisor and Instagram offer to a limited extent, an insight on consumers perception of places which is free from “formal” framing as the individual can comment, rate and publish their subjective experience. Moreover , with the use of turn taking systems in the Hello Zuidas platform, the idea that markets should be seen as social constructs is made relevant.

In regards to public interest, I have attempted to identify how places communicate the concept in their branding. As the academic debates have suggested, the problem of a substantial definition of “public interest” is partly due to the complex and pluralist nature of our modern societies. The wider implications of scale, the variety of possible variables and the contextual nature of places contribute to this dilemma for academics. It is why I have used the municipalities 2040 vision document to have an updated and dialogical idea of the interests of the city, which are meant to provide for the wider good of the residents and community. The document helped me generate broad units of analysis for my research based on the environment, liveability and economic opportunities. However, only broad units of analysis were used because my aim was to understand “how” public interest was communicated, had I used smaller units of analysis ( like Habermas) the criteria could have been self-limiting and could have excluded some information. The selection of broad units of analysis has notably allowed a certain flexibility on the criteria analysed during the field enquiries of both Zuidas and De Hallen and their specific context.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Good governance principles of openness, participation and accountability, represented the structure of the projects which, are communicated in De Hallen’s development process and that of Zuidas. This entrepreneurial governance system in which both private and public interests are negotiated becomes blurred in the communication phase. It remains unclear to what exact extent these negotiations are the outcome of corporate social responsibilities, risk mitigation (as Baker 2007 and Gunderson & Holling 2007 suggest) or if they are truly values that firms adhere to. Whichever of those, there is a strong relationship with Amsterdam 2040 vision document which once again displays the leverage that the municipality has in development projects in the city of Amsterdam. Moreover, positive images, customer based relationship, loyalty, and narratives, can also have the effect of bringing substance to the brand. Increasing brand resonance with customers and people (future customers) contributes to the brands experiential commensurability (the way of evaluating the effectiveness of a brand). Rather than being tourist or business centric the places aim to be what we can call lifestyle centric and seek to attract people. After all, the greater the framing can associate with everyday experiences the more successful these can be considered to be. Branding is all about exposure and relevance, if it plays a positive or enhancing role, why would it be a bad thing ? Billions are already spent on media tools and communication advertisements, why not use those billions for something more noteworthy and contributing to society in general? However, communicating that places are for “everybody” should not be deceitful, as it could damage a brands image and stakeholder relations which could result in contention. From this perspective integrating the “public interest”, communicating to a wide audience at macro and micro levels, and making spaces places of integration can be considered to be a useful strategy when promoting places.

6.2 Reflection

Carrying out this research has proven to be both challenging and strategic in order to answer the research question. First, although content was available in English for both

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

case studies, more information was accessible in Dutch such as newspaper articles and policy documents. Translation were made on the Dutch version of the Amsterdam vision document and the De Hallen e-book but some external content was untapped due to time constraints and language barriers. In addition, the scale of both the Halls and Zuidas is different but was once again used due to the availability of English content, yet both remain big city projects that contribute to the 2040 Amsterdam Vision and both seem to harbour a symbolic international image that aims for the convergence of different people and contribute to Amsterdam’s vibrancy. As regards to the online material and overall content analysis, it is also admitted that more content was available on Zuidas than on De Hallen. As to the content of the research methods, content quantity and quality varied greatly in the word s of mouth for instance, on informal social media platforms, online reviews for Zuidas were rather low which is why the Hello Zuidas platform was chosen. It was found that the online material was not heterogeneous and fractured , for instance three different platforms could be found for Zuidas, and two for De Hallen the other mainly referring to the food hall. Maybe these sort of website platforms show that the amenities are not gathered under one central authority although we know that the private developer TROM in the case of De Hallen and financial institutions in the case Zuidas play a large role in negotiations with the municipality and in the communication strategy of these places. Yet this may suggest that the identity of Zuidas is still in progress as opposed to that of De Hallen whose functions seem clearly set and established considering the popularity and reputation of the place. Attempts were made to gain more information on the branding of the projects with relevant professionals, unfortunately for the case of De Hallen this was not possible because of an already high demand for interviews (see appendix). In the case of Zuidas two interviews were conducted with a senior communicative adviser of the a project manager of the municipality of Amsterdam in order to confirm some of the hypotheses exposed (see appendix). Both of these interviews support claims made in the thesis, notably in regards to the advantages of resonance, the intertextual and developmental basis that the Zuidas 2040 document provides for infrastructure projects and how promoting places for everyone can be seen as a form of risk mitigation.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

6.3 Concluding remarks

It is my hope that the work I have accomplished has contributed to the academic debate on public interest and shed light on some of the communicative strategies used in place branding. Due to the rather recent emergence of both projects and ongoing developments in both neighbourhoods, it will be curious to see if these places retain and meet the attractiveness they promote so eagerly and whether the overall resonance of these places will emanate ever more at both macro and micro-societal levels or if these places popularity will eventually be replaced by newer and more attractive spaces. Meanwhile, the proactive engagement of the community, the adherent multi- functionality and the strong ties with the municipality and its objectives suggest that although interests and demand may change through time, places, if they wish to survive in a neoliberal and competitive world, will have to adapt more flexibly to peoples wants and needs.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

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Petersen, Christine. (2011). Caterer and hotelkeeper interview Christine Petersen Tripadvisor. Available: https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/341016/caterer-and-hotelkeeper- interview-christine-petersen-tripadvisor. Last accessed 11th Apr 2016

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Maps

City of Amsterdam . (2016). Big projects in the city. Available: http://maps.amsterdam.nl/groteprojecten/?LANG=en. Last accessed 4th Apr 2016.

Policy Documents

City of Amsterdam Physical Planning Department. (2011). Economically strong and sustainable Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040. Available: https://www.amsterdam.nl/gemeente/organisatie/ruimte-economie/ruimte- duurzaamheid/ruimte-duurzaamheid/making-amsterdam/planamsterdam-eng/planamsterdam-1/. Last accessed 11th Apr 2016. (English Version)

City of Amsterdam Physical Planning Department. (2011). Structuur Visie Amsterdam 2040 Economisch sterj en duurzaaam. Available: https://www.amsterdam.nl/wonen- leefomgeving/structuurvisie/. Last accessed 10th Apr 2016. (Dutch Version)

City of Amsterdam. (2015). Building Block Zuidas Vision 2015.Available: www.amsterdam.nl/publish/.../building_blocks_vision_zuidas_2015.pdf. Last accessed 21st Jan 2016.

Picture and Photographs

Cover picture

Zuidas: Baker & McKenzie | I amsterdam www.iamsterdam.com1800 × 1020Search by image Real Estate http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/business/invest/your-industry/real-estate last accessed 15th June 2016

De Hallen: De Hallen Amsterdam Oud-West – modern in 2014 | Kalfjes wllmkalb.wordpress.com462 × 305Search by image

Schermafbeelding 2014-10-06 om 10.57.45 last accessed 15th June 2016

Instagram pictures

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

De Hallen 2016: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/dehallen/- username credits- annamindscape, amsterdamcityguide,a_fandi_, marjamdvos, veloretti. sebaswL, sophiamarymac, sasdevriesnl, loesjellief

Zuidas 2016: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/716310392/ - usernames credits- mijnvalkhotel, pryscillaaa, dwknwnch, deborahwolleswinkel, bartwwerdenburgph...,josjeonline, vanshuppen

Case study logos

Zuidas: http://www.hellozuidas.com/companies?category=2192

De Hallen De Hallen in Amsterdam West - Tante Tip tantetip.nl228 × 232Search by image

Appendix

Content Analysis of Zuidas building blocks

Public Interest Stakeholders Throughout the region Local Residents People of Amsterdam Students Consultation process “800 people took part in “think Zuidas” online Input survey” p2 Their opinions Ambitions Vibrant district International and ambitious People p3 p2 Meetings Participation Published online survey A vibrant Amsterdam neighbourhood Invited everyone to offer their opinions Connected with greenery and water 874 respondents For cyclists p4 Accessibility The project: high density urban development , p3 mixed function centre “cannot produce the Zuidas Vision Document Architectural quality

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2015 alone” Sustainability Co-production Design of public spaces (above and Local residents, businesses, students, underground) investors, experts and other stakeholders Physical barrier between Amsterdam Zuid and Asked two hundred people what they wished Buitenveledert to see included in the vision document Fewer new office buildings Co-creation Slight reduction in the total volume of Wish to involve all stakeholders residential development p4 p5 Important that Zuidas remains attractive and Consider the greater Amsterdam region’s accessible at all times position as a favoured international business p5 location Chapter 2.2 Ambitions “in the interest of variety and synergy, it Establish links between private enterprise, the should attract not only those active in the research field (notably VU University) and (business) services and financial sectors, but other knowledge intensive activity must appeal to companies in all emerging Residential district innovative sectors Welcoming New employment Leading companies Contribution to the regional economy Knowledge institutes “international community is increasingly Good accessibility at all levels : local, national, interest in the “soft” aspects which influence international or determine the choice of business location: Global trend whereby dividing lines between liveability, good amenities, access to green work, business, the home, social interaction space” and recreation are becoming ever less distinct. By 2030 there will be over 6.500 homes in Vibrant Amsterdam district Zuidas Pleasant Amsterdam’s demand for good, high-quality Lively housing People on the street and making good use of Ambitious the public areas Appealing Parks and squares Quality Pleasant welcoming setting Close attention to architectural quality Lived in / liveable p6 Which residents consider their home Many public amenities p7 Integral part of Amsterdam Zuidas international business district

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Design and form of the public spaces Thirty thousand people work here “state-of-the art in sustainability” Seven hundred organizations of all sizes Good accessibility High rented values and a high occupancy rate Liveability Leading institutional investors and real estate Bicycle and public transport funds Public transport hub Key success factors wide range of amenities Amenities synergy Accessibility by public transport Encourage cooperation between business Shops bars restaurants sectors Attractive mix of functions Create new quality Broad range of public amenities p6 High quality housing 6 themes Contribute to the attractiveness of the entire Amsterdam region International and ambitious Cementing its reputation

■ A vibrant Amsterdam neighbourhood Ideal location in which to live and work

■ Connected with greenery and water Smart and sustainable district

■ Zuidas for cyclists Ideal choice of location

■ Zuidas and accessibility Benefits are mutual: being part of Zuidas will

■ Work in progress help the university and its academic medical centre to achieve their internationalization “Zuidas community” : the companies, ambitions organizations, residents, contractors, p8 developers and other stakeholders involved in Public and commercial amenities the process of co-creation Extremely attractive business setting Public authority with overall responsibility Prestigious hotels, broad range of shops, bars role of the city of Amsterdam is that of and restaurants, excellent facilities for sports, coordinator leisure and culture , international education at works in tandem with the local authority, all levels, modern healthcare Stadsdeel Zuid Exhibition complex, public art large investment in infrastructure will be Office development, quality requirement, made by the national government sustainable and flexible , changing greenery and public spaces requirement of users financial framework is taken by Amsterdam Public amenity Amsterdam Zuid station City Council Hospitable to neighbouring district p7 Connection between Amsterdam and the world

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p8 “international “springboard” for all people both live and work Amsterdam residents” this makes it particularly resilient p9 p9 Ambition of being one of Europe’s top five meeting place for business or social innovative metropolitan regions interaction p10 art and culture People must actually live there international reputation Not be a nine to five district partnerships with cultural organizations and Life on the streets individual artist Ensuring the vibrancy of the district high on strengthening cooperation and synergy the agenda between companies and organizations in the Marked interest in Zuidas on the part of large district , knowledge-sharing create added investors and project developers , both values national and international, but also among enhance attractiveness of the university and private individuals. diversity of Zuidas as a whole Meet the housing needs of some 15 000 people p10 Welcome many diverse target groups, first p11 time buyers to senior , from international shops bars restaurants (area around the professional to urban families station) p11 essential services such as dental surgery and Support Amsterdam aim of being an “age an optician practice, one or two supermarkets friendly city “ leisure facilities p12 an arthouse cinema, bowling alley and p13 nightclub Greenery and water social amenities Human dimension communal gardens outdoor space Safe and comfortable student accommodation contribution to the Minimal environmental noise vibrancy + international allure, eight hundred Increase the attractiveness of these areas temporary student housing units High quality green areas place for the growing numbers of seniors Leisure activities, read, laze in the sum or space for urban families enjoy a cup of coffee. p12 People feel a personal connection residents and local businesses will be given Greenery opportunity to help design public space to Trees and grass water management devise imitative and to contribute to long-term (recognized that Zuidas has not devoted

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

management and maintenance enough attention to this aspect). vibrancy Plants microclimate flexibility Greenery in public spaces civil society organizations Rainproof “Zuidas lacks a residential character” p14 p13 Energy neutral district, local energy p15 generation energy efficiency, clean air, “a Good urban environment climate proof city “sustainability , clean air , Energy efficiency sustainability into practice Rooftop/ vegetation/solar panels Seating/ play areas/ encourage use and p16 enjoyment by the public Popularity “almost half of local journeys are Public areas made by bicycle” Artistic Recognizes that Zuidas was originally Public space programme conceived as a business district –and interests Social function of the motorist on its design- Zuidas “pocket park” transformation as a mixed function- district Opportunities for recreation and sport in an Knowledge workers, families entrepreneurs, open setting quality of public space Pitches also available for public use Must consider the number of people who will Zuidas run wish to move freely on foot or bycicle Fit and healthy city Transition zone p21 p17 Temporary restaurants or canteens, lunch Joint action by public and private partners venue p18 Builders working on site Accessibility by road, public transport and Everyone in the district bicycle Broader public Pubic transport users Local school children No “extra asphalt” Visitors Interconnecting Soltoerdijk and Amsterdam Everyone Zuid by linking with the Zuidwestboog p22 P19 benefit tourists High speed rail services to France and Germany consultation with companies and local residents Invest in inmoroving public transport

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Long term accessibility of Zuidas Public-private partnership p21 People in and around Zuidas Co-creation involving all stakeholders. Local residents, employees, students and other stakeholders, developers and contractors New partnerships p22 Residents Public information “Zuidas Bouwt!” intermediary between the project staff and the general public p24 Gateway for those who live work and study here Amenities, beating heart of Zuidas Pedestrians User perception are paramount p25 High quality public space with greenery Area forms the “cement” between the northern and southern zones Interconnect Relationship Mix of residential, business and public amenities in all areas of Zuidas “mix will not be equal in every case” Housing, business, amenities and education Amenities of a more local nature

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Schemata De Hallen

Public Interest

Contact route Location of De Halen Amsterdam, located in West, Public transport, tram 7 from Leidseplein, tram 17 from central station Bike parking Parking garage Opening of the passage and bike parking (07.00-23.00 hr)

Renovated with love for detail, offering many functions for both the neighbourhood and the city Hotspot food, movies shopping, meetings/events and sleeping. Meeting space Entrepreneurs all cooperate together Main passage is only suitable for public events Guided tours through and around De Hallen Amsterdam, National monument De Hallen Amsterdam Guided tour, focus on architecture of De Hallen Amsterdam and its neighbourhood organised in cooperation with the Amsterdam public library

Guided Tours The Passage has a public function, the ideal place for special markets such s local goods, exhibitions, the red carpet for the movie hall or catwalk at fashion shows Large diversity of tenants find their place in De Halls Library and their reading café “Belcampo” is the living room of the neighbourhood

Public function and use m a second public axis is realized in addition to The building the main Passage Spacious terrace, public space and access, entrances to the companies and organizations of the Halls. The Passage can be used for special markets such as Local Goods. Free bicycle parking

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Dynamic mix of users involved , multifunctional use of each other’s facilities The future of a neighbourhood in development Centre for Media, Culture, Fashion, Gastronomy and Crafts

News

Images used on website gallery

Emails

“Dear Aurelien,

Thank you for your interest in De Hallen Amsterdam. Unfortunately we are not able to fulfill your request. We get many requests for interviews and we don't have time to give everybody a personal reaction. On our website you can find a lot of info about De Hallen. We also have a book published in Dutch, which you can download here http://dehallen-amsterdam.nl/downloads/ .

I wish you the best with your research,

Met vriendelijke groet,

Carlijn Ros

Stichting TROM / Organisatie De Hallen Amsterda

Hannie Dankbaarpassage 47 | 1053 RT AMSTERDAM | t: +31(0)20 - 705 8164 [email protected] | www.dehallen-amsterdam.nl

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Fieldwork notes

Fieldwork De Hallen

I arrive in the Kinkerbuur neighbourhood by bike from the north along Kinkerstraat.

Many road works are ongoing, mainly due with tram tracks. The main road is closed and the pedestrian ways are dumped with the construction workers equipment and material making the walk along the road rather tricky, loud and unpleasant. As I go further south and closer to my destination, the roadwork ends but De Hallen is yet to be sighted. I continue my journey and see a few cardboard signs indicating that I was getting closer to my destination, as a flux of people start emerging from the side streets probably due to the fact that lunchtime was getting close. I take a right into the Nicolaas Beetsstraat street. In the street, a local market selling local food and various goods spreads along with locals and passerby’s stopping at the stands.

I finally arrive at my destination and lock up my bike at a plaza on Bellamyplein. My first surprise is that I would have never guessed that such a building could be located in this rather dense and compact neighbourhood. From the west wing, the sandy coloured building is surrounded by high steel gates which are wide open. Restaurant and bars as well as terraces are found along the side with greenery and flowers to complement its attractiveness. A few people are found sitting enjoying drinks and a few workers are seen loading and stocking goods inside as I make my way into the building.

The food Hall

The food hall is a large and well illuminated space where food stalls can be found along either side of the room. At the centre of the room are chairs and tables where consumers can enjoy their food and drinks (there is a also a big bar in the centre of the room), the cleanliness and modern installations to be found clearly reflect a sense of modernity. Each of the booths are unique in the sense that they each have different colours, logos, and different food specialties from all over the world. French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese are some of the cuisines that can be found although some booths provide their own creations, overall this gives the room an international feeling. The people owning the stalls are in majority found to be around their twenties and early thirties and are busy preparing the stalls or serving customers. The stalls

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also display a small signboard or a small television screen with prices and a short description of the of the food that is served. The price seem to range from 2 to 20 euros for food and drinks.

A few of what I may assume are tourists are spotted mainly due to their accent (American and English) and the use of another language ( namely French and Italian), in addition families, young couples, grandparents with their grandkids were also spotted.

The main hall which stretches from north to south of the building starts with a big arched entrance similar to that of churches but without the intricate sculptural design around it, a series of steps and a ramp (for handicapped)takes you inside the main hall. The main hall is fairly wide, old tram tracks were left on the floor and natural light comes in from glass panels set on the roof. A couple of wooden benches can be found, as well as an underground bike storage and the alley is dotted with flags and posts indicating the location of the different amenities “food hall, library, cinema” and promotes the use of local products. After sitting on one of the wooden benches for over half an hour, I realised that the hall was also used as a passageway for pedestrians from getting from point A to point B. although big steel framed doors marked the entrance of each amenity these were wide open and blended in perfectly with the old tram system building keeping its historical identity with a modern touch. The library, located at the other end of the hall was covered in glass panels and was busy with students and other individuals.

The hall then comes out onto the open on a small horizontal side street, flags can be found there and construction works block the western side of the street, the eastern side on the other hand ends on the main street. A nursery can be found to one of the adjacent buildings. The rest of the halls continues in a second building which is ingrained with residential buildings and blends in by both its architecture and colour. The second buildings is considerably smaller than the main one, it also serves a less multi-functional as it mainly sells quality products, antiquities and other things hailed to have come from small enterprises. Maybe due to its mono-functional nature the second hall gives off a slightly more private feeling.

Aurelien Reynolds How is public interest communicated in place branding?

Zuidas fieldwork

I start my journey by bike I start off the street of……. And park easily park my bike on ……

I start off in the Zuidas central business district. I take a seat at the plaza surrounded by the high rise buildings of big corporations. The Gustav Mahlerplein plaza is characterised by elevated platforms of about two and a half feet high where grass and a few young trees can be found, the plaza is designed in a way that aims to seat a maximum of people ( on a non-rainy day) . A few workers (both male and female)can be seen taking a break with coffee or cigarettes in their hands yet other non-blue collar workers can also be seen such as builders, sanitary personnel or from other amenities are seen enjoying the plaza. The entrance to an underground bike storage system is also found. The western buildings (taking a northern view as a reference point) are characterized by the fact that at the bottom of each amenities can be found notably restaurant, bars and their terraces, and an Alberthein which contribute to the life from those high rise grizzly buildings as the tables are being prepared for the expected incoming flow of workers finishing their day. Streams of commuters are seen heading to the Zuid station and construction works are still ongoing. The Zuid train station is hardly impressive considering the might of the buildings that surround it. The station is also used as an artery for pedestrians and the area which is cut off by the A10 motorway and railway.

I take a left towards Claude Debussylan which feel like being in valley surrounded by buildings. Once again small businesses can be found on the ground floor of each of the buildings health foods, a classy restaurant and gated terraces. Next to “Urban salad Zuidas” a series of stairs lead to an elevated plaza with trees and seating and gives a view of what is going on in the surrounding buildings, whether this space is private or public is unclear but cameras surround the space and I was given a few intrigued looks by people walking inside their building corridors as well as workers taking breaks. In addition, part of the pavement is decorated with a pierced heart with names(which expresses a similarity with the stars found in Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

As I continue towards Claude Debussylan the number of amenities slowly diminishes apart from one bar/restaurant which on its front window mentions student deals. Along Gustave Mahlerlaan (parallel to Claude Debussylan) much of the same composition can be found with amenities on both sides of the street, with an addition of cycle lanes, public benches, terraces, trees, a fitness centre with a mix of customers enjoying the terraces.

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V.U university Area. Is clearly physically divided from the CBD, tram track and heavy traffic on Buitenveldertlaan. Some new university buildings do seem however to attempt to blend in with the new surrounding urban fabric in height (notably the Hogeschool Holland) with university student streaming in and out of the university buildings aimimg to catch the next metro or their next lesson. North of the university buildings, football fields and pitches cover the area as well as what seems to be a sort of garden with local vegetables and a restaurant selling those product at the Boeletuin restaurant which is rather surprising to find in a rising urban jungle. As we continue west, the hospital and medical care centre can be found.

Short Interview with project manager of the Zuidas development area

Q: Does the 2040 Zuidas Vision document provide a template for the projects to abide by? Shortcomings over-complexity?

Yes, Amsterdam 2040 vision document was constructed with Zuidas in mind. With that in mind things are related , in general the 2040 vision does provide a basis on which projects exist.

Q: Would you agree(or how does) that both liveability connotations and more abstract terms of relevance (climate change, public interest) are used in website or documents when promoting places?

Unsure if it is a branding motive . Those aspects are part of the Zuidas and city development and are more principles and motives than branding. But terms such as “sustainability” and “high quality” are however tools and abstract terms used for the promotion or branding of places, which can be found in Zuidas.

Q: Vague and simple terms, such as “Green and water” are used in the Zuidas vision building blocks- is it because abstract conception resonate better with the public? Or that green and water are terms which more directly come to a users mind? Why do we so often see these terms?

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The aim is to show in the Vision that those aspects, green and water are equally important in the Zuidas building blocks. That it is part of the larger framework that goes beyond that of the road and transport framework. Development planning forms for green and water is important for the area itself.

Q: Do you believe communication and transparency plays an important role (or acts as an incentive) in places to promote public interest?

Yes, for Zuidas because half of the development is in its completion phase there are still big chunks of development that have to take place, there are a lot of users and residents that you must take into account when planning development. Communication is crucial in those moments. Transparency has also become a trend to determine negative sides of development such as noise or other nuisances. Every time we communicate with the neighbourhood, we are active in communicating those and the impact planning has on the environment which is done in communication. These are then discussed with the various users of the area. At the beginning of this year, the municipality put rules of engagement for the Zuidas in which private parties , which work on the streets have to abide to building aspects in terms of nuisance.

Q: Do you think the terms public interest and attractiveness go hand in hand?

Yes, I think so if the interest of the most influential people and their idea matches the interest of the people of the surrounding environment but also if it’s feasible then it’s a good idea which can contribute to attractiveness.

Q: Do you agree? Multi-functional use is present in both De Hallen and Zuidas, this multi functionality provides a basis for the liveability of spaces and reinforces the identity of Amsterdam

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Multi-functionality provides a basis to make an area attractive , by attracting more and different users It become a bigger hub for Amsterdam. In addition, Zuidas can be seen as a miniature city within the city, thus plans for multi-functionality were already established in the past, this multi-functionality can also be found in other places in Amsterdam. Yet, Zuidas is special in a lot of ways.

Q: How is public interest communicated in place branding ?

Informal platforms are the best way to match public interest with planning, the environment, stakeholders , residents, processes, building achievement’s, green and water are topics which are constantly discussed in informal meetings .

Q: Does Identity play a role as to the scale of public interest?

Zuidas is like a miniature city. Of course the Zuidas and De Hallen are very different in scale not just in terms of residents but also in terms of square metres (surface) it is then a strategic choice to choose your scale of influence.

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Interview Senior Communication Advisor of Zuidas

Q:Green, water, vibrancy are some key themes found on online content – would you say these contributes to the attraction of Zuidas? Is it a move from the municipality or also from the private stakeholders in the area (eg ABN amro, VU)

Yes, these elements are a big contribution to Zuidas. We think it is crucial to the development the area. The Vision document is an initiative from the municipality (policy which determines the course of development). We involve private stakeholders, citizens and others because we want to Zuidas to be a place for everyone. The Vision document 2016 has been written and will be discussed in the city council. When it is approved I think we will translate it. For now you can read the building blocks of the Zuidas Vision Document See the building blocks of Zuidas Vision Document 2015: https://www.amsterdam.nl/zuidas/visie-zuidas/

Q:What is the aim? A mix of everyday life and wider scale implications? Does Zuidas have a clear identity or is this identity still in its building phase?

The aim is to develop the second city centre in Amsterdam. I think Zuidas has a clear identity as the international urban knowledge and business centre of Amsterdam and is still growing. Strategically situated, Zuidas is just a stone’s throw from Amsterdam International Airport Schiphol and the city centre. In fact, from the airport you can be in the heart of Zuidas within seven minutes by train. About 700 national and international companies are already based in the Zuidas area. Just as one of the Netherlands’ largest universities and a prestigious university medical centre. Regarding our proposition for living we are still in a building phase. Zuidas is more than just a place to work or study. With about 7000 homes in the future, Zuidas will be Amsterdam’s second most prominent housing location with shops, restaurants and cultural activities. The first generation apartments are large and have a high price point. Now we are moving towards larger variation from student housing to more affordable and mid-range apartments but penthouses and city villa’s are also part of the picture.

Q:What kind of images does Zuidas wish to project? ( from the text a vibrant, liveable space, in which people live work and play)

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The text is accurate. Zuidas is an Amsterdam location, international, vibrant and liveable. And with station Zuid it will have the second largest train station of Amsterdam. In 2017 project Zuidasdok will start. This development involves expanding Amsterdam Zuid train station, widening the A10 motorway, partly underground, developing a public transport terminal and the reconstruction of public areas. Therefore Zuidas is multi-functional and multi-connected)

Q: In the Zuidas vision document there is a wide use of the term “public”, could you maybe elaborate on what this means?

Not sure what you mean. It is about the context and I do not know what you are referring to. Sometimes we mean the government, sometimes it ‘public’ means accessible for everybody

Q: The “ Hello Zuidas” website aims to give a proactive account of what goes on in Zuidas, do you also consider it as a tool that adds to the life of Zuidas?

Yes, absolutely. Hello Zuidas is a tool to serve the Zuidas community. It is a foundation that has the aim to make of Zuidas a well-functioning area. An area managementsystem that contributes to Zuidas to stay attractive for all persons and organizations located in the area. Hello Zuidas initiates a broad cooperation of companies, public-private organisations, City of Amsterdam etc. http://www.hellozuidas.com/

Q: Would you agree that incorporating a wider audience is way to make a place more attractive and less vulnerable to risk ?

Yes, that is why we want a greater variety of apartments, more and different kind of businesses in the plinths. It is a balancing act because you want to maintain your strengths and expand to different and new types pf activities and users of Zuidas.

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