Staging the Square: The Evolution of City Branding Efforts by the VVV in 1960-1990

Gouda, a small city in the urban agglomeration known as the Randstad in the Netherlands, is contemporarily known by its food heritage of cheese, a narrative pushed by several stakeholders in city branding practices. This thesis serves as an investigation of the role of one stakeholder, de Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer, within historical branding efforts between the 1960s and 1990s. To complete this analysis, annual reports spanning these decades are consulted. This analysis is based on close reading of these reports, accompanied by policy reports and newspaper articles to establish a full analysis. These primary sources are supported by secondary sources introducing concepts from several disciplines including heritage, place branding, and tourism discourses. Findings show that branding efforts regarding Gouda’s intangible heritage showed in all decades, albeit in different intensities. The 1960s show early, and fragile efforts. The 1970s start to see a form of...Show moreGouda, a small city in the urban agglomeration known as the Randstad in the Netherlands, is contemporarily known by its food heritage of cheese, a narrative pushed by several stakeholders in city branding practices. This thesis serves as an investigation of the role of one stakeholder, de Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer, within historical branding efforts between the 1960s and 1990s. To complete this analysis, annual reports spanning these decades are consulted. This analysis is based on close reading of these reports, accompanied by policy reports and newspaper articles to establish a full analysis. These primary sources are supported by secondary sources introducing concepts from several disciplines including heritage, place branding, and tourism discourses. Findings show that branding efforts regarding Gouda’s intangible heritage showed in all decades, albeit in different intensities. The 1960s show early, and fragile efforts. The 1970s start to see a form of professionalization and institutionalization in the efforts. The 1980s and 1990s move into professional branding with multiple interconnected stakeholders and regulated policies. These findings suggest the early existence of branding efforts, often under researched in academic debates on the subject, calling for the need to understand these earlier efforts, as they often differ in intent and structure from contemporary practices.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Staging the Square: The Evolution of City Branding Efforts by the VVV in 1960-1990