Management & Manipulation of Place (AQA A Level Geography)

Rebranding of Place

• Processes of change do not happen in a vacuum, they are often driven by policy choices 

• Places are chosen specifically to be rebranded based on housing quality, employment opportunities, level of deprivation and access to services

  • Stratford was chosen to be the site of the major London regeneration project for the 2012 Olympics as it was a large underused area of brownfield land with a high level of poverty amongst the local population and poor access to public services

• Policies that manipulate place identity are rebranding and regeneration 

• Often, the processes of gentrification and globalisation can be a by-product of these policies 

  • Rebranding policies that open up an area to free trade will bring the effects of globalisation into the area 

  • To rebrand the northeast following deindustrialisation the UK government attracted the investment of Japanese car company Nissan in Sunderland 

  • This example of TNC investment and increasing globalisation as a result of the rebranding policy has significantly affected the character of Sunderland known as ‘the Home of Nissan’ and employing 6000 people 

• These policies are often led by a theme such as culture, art, industry, or sport 

• Art-led rebranding was part of the reimaging of Margate

  • A seaside town in decline on the south coast of Kent

  • Transformed into a hip centre for art culture following the opening of the Turner Contemporary Gallery in 2011

  • The town is now a node for artists and art-related enterprises 

• The Olympics or sport world cups often provide an opportunity for sport-led rebranding and regeneration as they bring large amounts of investment

  • London’s huge regeneration project in Stratford began with the 2012 London Olympics

  • Stratford continues to be regenerated in the 2020s and its image has changed dramatically 

  • Stratford now has the huge Olympic stadium, home to West Ham football club, and the copper box basketball venue 

  • It will also soon have a satellite site of the V&A museum as well as many recreation and leisure facilities 

  • This image is very different from the deprived post-industrial one it had before 2012

External Agencies

• The manipulation of place identity and character involves many groups 

• These groups range from those with the most power such as national or local government to those with less power such as community action groups 

• Powerful agencies often have a motive or goal for the regeneration project and this can be interpreted and criticised through scrutiny of the placemaking process 

  • Investment into areas for regeneration can be criticised if the new area creates social or spatial exclusion of less dominant or marginalised groups

• The agencies involved in changing place meaning are governments, councils, individuals, community groups, TNCs, national, international and global organisations

The Influence of External Agencies

• The external agencies aim to adapt the place meaning and manipulate the sense of place 

• They do this through advertising campaigns, improvements to the built environment, media coverage that is positive, tourist material and social media campaigns and accounts 

• There are examples of success and failure in rebranding 

  • Many seaside towns in the UK have been rebranded or regenerated to some extent however, they still struggle to compete with international destinations for tourism revenue

  • The £ 11.3 million sport-led Boscombe Spa Village project created Europe’s first artificial surf reef to rebrand and regenerate the south coast location as a surf resort.  However, Newquay in Cornwall is still the surf capital of the UK and Boscombe does not make top surfing destination lists for the UK or Europe