Tag Archives: Image

by | 15/11/2012 · 14:00

The Brand and the Real Thing: Kenya – Shining for Some

by Renard Teipelke

An amazing landscape, wild animals, beautiful sunsets, white beaches, traditional tribe villages, mountains and valleys…one could easily continue the list of things for which Kenya is famous for. This country in East Africa is one of the prime tourist destinations in Africa and equally depends on the revenues from this large economic sector (678 mio. Euro revenue earnings in 2010). The country is well branded internationally and has established very clear pictures as images of Kenya in many people’s minds (see another article on this blog here). Continue reading →

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by | 29/10/2012 · 13:48

Regionalization and Place Identity (Or: what is really the Niederlausitz?)

Upper and Lower Lausitz between 1715 and 1724

by Markus Kather

Döbern. Döbern? Optionally this is a small town in (Southern) Brandenburg // near Cottbus // in the Lausitz region // between Dresden and Berlin // near Forst // south of the Spreewald // nearly in Poland // in East Germany // in the Niederlausitz region …this list could be continued. Localizing a place and defining its region is not a simple question – the limits of a region are often not clearly definable.

A region is made of linkages and interrelations and based on spatial and institutional proximity. It’s a result of practices in the sense of “everyday geography-making”[1]. Therefore regions tend to blur, they overlap and change constantly. They are dynamic but nevertheless they often have certain persistence. So when localizing a place we often deal with several layers of regions. Continue reading →

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by | 08/06/2012 · 07:41

Not again with Berlin…

By Renard Teipelke

The expert seemed quite outraged hearing my question about Frankfurt am Main’s reputation as an economically strong capital of finance that lacks the alternative style and subcultural creativity of Berlin. I moved from Germany’s capital city to Frankfurt last year and have since then engaged various people in discussions about the cities’ different image and ‘urban atmosphere’. This time, we talked to an expert who works for the business incubator and creativity center of Frankfurt, MAINRAUM, and thus must have a biased take on the issue. Nevertheless, she brought up various aspects that I would like to share with you, because I think that her arguments (even though not totally new) are a fine example for understanding a city government’s perspective on the “creative city” debate. They might also convince some of the readers to readjust their picture of Frankfurt and Berlin (as well as similar cities). Continue reading →

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by | 08/05/2012 · 09:57

Three Short Movies about Traveling the World and Their Messages

By Renard Teipelke

Traveling the world as an adventure (or a luxury) undertaken by young adults has become a well-known part of life of today’s younger generations. Multiple blogs are filled with online diaries, pictures, videos, links, and other pieces of information that are shared with friends and the world wide web for various reasons. Rick Mereki, Tim White, und Andrew Lees have been on a six-week travel around the world and made three short movies with impressions from the eleven countries they visited. Each movie has been framed by a specific theme, and they all highlight (indirectly) many aspects of traveling the world and understanding its heterogeneity and complexity – both, as I would say, with regard to leisure activities as well as research. Continue reading →

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by | 02/03/2012 · 07:00

Cultural Flagship Projects – Part III

By Renard Teipelke

In my last article of this series on cultural flagship projects, I will present my conclusions of the research I conducted during a field trip in February in Cairo and Alexandria*. I will specifically focus on the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Both, my first article with a conceptualization of the topic as well as my second article with a focus on the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) region, can be understood as the foundation of the following explanations.

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by | 09/02/2012 · 07:00

Cultural Flagship Projects – Part II

by Renard Teipelke

In my first article on cultural flagship projects*, I tried to conceptualize the topic. Now, I will connect the flagship idea ‘Western style’ with the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) region. My last article will deal with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt based on a case study conducted during a field trip this month (tbc due to the currently unstable and tense situation).

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by | 25/01/2012 · 10:12

Cultural Flagship Projects – Part I

by Renard Teipelke

In the next weeks, I will contribute a series of articles on cultural flagship projects to this blog.* Since Kenneth Wardrop and other authors have already written about British and Scottish cities reinventing themselves through branding their cultural/creative potential (UNESCO creative cities articles 1, 2, 3), my first article will rather deal with a conceptualization of this topic (Part I). Then, I will focus on a region which does not often play a prominent role with respect to this blog’s range of topics: the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) region. I will discuss the export of cultural flagship projects from Europe into the MENA region (Part II), with particular focus on the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt (Part III) which I will study on a field trip in February. Continue reading →

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by | 16/01/2012 · 08:00

Alternative Mapping – Another Type

By Renard Teipelke

In my last article, I wrote about alternative mapping. I referred to somewhat ‘weird’ maps showing France illustrated by various wines or the London underground presented as 100 years of music. My main arguments were that these alternative maps are fun, offer new viewpoints, need to be interpreted by the user, have some kind of soul as well as constitute and make a space or a place special. This time, I will deal with another type of alternative mapping: Maps of the ‘augmented reality’ period we are currently experiencing (cf. Valentin Schipfer’s recent article). I will point out some important aspects – some of them were presented by French economics sociologist Franck Cochoy in a recent lecture titled “Exploring the commercial space with a smartphone: Curiosity, geotraceability and self-marketing” (Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, 11 January 2012). Continue reading →

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by | 19/10/2011 · 10:50

It’s a Cool Place, but Don’t Tell Anyone!

by Renard Teipelke

Traveling to new destinations is one of human mankind’s greatest experiences. You have two options with respect to a destination’s standing: you can either decide for the well-known, established one or you can try out the relatively unknown insider’s tip.* Taking two cities as examples: you can pick London or Bristol. If we think about a possible travel destination, we can agree that you probably can only decide to go there if you have heard about it in the first place – a fact much more unlikely for an insider’s tip. However, it can exactly be this little recognition that makes these places so interesting to actually find out more about them by visiting.

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by | 17/10/2011 · 18:04

Switzerland is the World

Europe According to Switzerland (Mapping Stereotypes Project)

by Caspar Lundsgaard-Hansen

Last week, Efe Sevin posted an interesting article on this blog about the Nation Brands Index. This seemed to me like a good opportunity to hint at the work of Yanko Tsvetkov. The graphic designer and visual artist wonderfully maps nation stereotypes.

Even though these maps might not enhance serious nation branding it is nevertheless worth taking a closer look at this artist’s work. As we all know, stereotypes might also actually contain some degree of truth. Or would anyone disagree that Switzerland is the world?

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