Eight Ways for Cities to Help Citizens and Attract Diverse Groups to Cities through Place Making and Marketing

As social creatures, cities are where humans naturally gather to live, trade, learn, and forge  relationships. However,  cities are also at the forefront of navigating many of the world’s transient challenges such as inflation and political instability or long-term shifts such as the growing role of technology in everyday life.

Amidst it all, the visitor economy is still flourishing — but as we know well, that can sometimes pose problems for cities too.

As a Knowledge Partner with the City Destinations Alliance for several years now, TOPOSOPHY recently collaborated to publish a new report on Exploring the Emerging Role of the Place Making and Marketing Organisation that makes a strong case for shifting towards holistic place making along with adopting a people-centric approach as opposed to a place-centric one.

The report is a logical continuation of our collaboration with the City Destinations Alliance, in which we’ve consistently guided European destination marketing organisations (DMOs) on looking beyond tourism and placing social sustainability at the heart of everything they do. 

As we navigate an increasingly complex world, the report argues that PMMOs have a crucial role to play in helping cities transition towards holistic place making and marketing, with a focus on people rather than place.

The report outlines eight areas of action for PMMOs to address in order to support citizens and attract diverse groups of people who can bring value to the city. These include:

1. Attracting people who create value
2. Articulating constructive place narratives that support pride of place
3. Activating places and spaces to support community cohesion
4. Supporting community engagement
5. Enhancing citizens' wellbeing
6. Balancing the needs of residents and visitors
7. Understanding how people really behave, and;
8. Transitioning towards new forms of partnership

Last month, we held an in-depth workshop with destination marketing CEOs of the major and capital cities in Europe to explore the challenges that their citizens face, and test these eight areas of action that we’d identified as being potentially transformative for their communities. 

With inspiring case studies from cities around the world, the report presents a high-level guide for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) on how to move forward and leverage their most compelling qualities and assets to attract investment, growth, and new residents and visitors.

You can now view and download it here: