Place Branding An Exploratory Study of Lahore as a Heritage City Brand

Abstract

Place has been a long established concept which has recently found currency in planning and urban design as well as in cultural, tourism and economic spheres. Today, the world is one market. The rapid advancement of globalization means that every country, every city and every region must compete with every other for its share of the world’s consumers, tourists, investors, students, entrepreneurs, international sporting and cultural events, and for the attention and respect of the international media, of other governments, and the people of other countries. This research work explores the existing literature on place branding and its sub category of city branding. The research goes on to establish the gap in the literature that is lack of city branding work done with regard to cities of Pakistan. The research aims to explore the awareness and loyalty of residents towards Lahore as a city brand using a qualitative research based on the dimensions of ‘City Brand Hexagon’ by Simon Anholt. The thesis offers the perspective of residents on different dimensions of Lahore as a city brand