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Imaginative communities: admired cities, regions and countries by Robert Govers
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Imaginative communities: admired cities, regions and countries by Robert Govers

Laura Ripoll Gonzalez
Place branding and public diplomacy, Vol.19(1), pp.181-183
01/03/2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-021-00214-6

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Abstract

In this insightful, sharp, and timely book, Robert Govers (re)situates place branding to the realm of reputation management, beyond short-lived interventions using marketing and advertising techniques. In a hyper-connected world, as Govers argues, ‘many of us are still looking for a sense of belonging (identity), authenticity, and stability and safety. Building a community and its reputation […] might be therefore more relevant than ever’ (p. 14). Govers applies Anderson’s concept of Imagined Communities, originally employed to reflect on civic pride to articulate how the local can be globally relevant by encouraging communities to use ‘their imagination in order to envisage and accomplish creative, unconventional, original, inventive, and-most importantly—uniquely local projects, events, infrastructures, or policies that reinforce the community and the way it is perceived by outsiders’ (p. 17). Govers continues a scholarly trend inviting place branding academics and practitioners to ‘think in imaginative ways’ (Jansen 2008) to face current and future global and local challenges. Gover’s book invites the reader to reflect on the many aspirations of places and on how their vision and values get communicated, beyond logos, marketing slogans, and advertorials, through innovative and bold actions that elevate the pride of the local community, from the inside out.

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