Culture Stories: Understanding Cultural Urban Branding

This paper argues for a narrative approach to the study of urban branding and planning. An analytical framework for understanding narratives and place is presented. The notion of the ‘representational logics of urban intervention' captures this idea that urban branding interventions are guided by certain representations and embedded in certain norms and values. The analytical framework is applied on a case of cultural urban branding. The case is the harbour front in Aalborg, Denmark where a number of flagship architecture projects and cultural institutions are being planned. It is shown how competing stories are told by proponents and opponents of the interventions. The relation to place in the stories differ radically for those favour and those against, and the paper aims throwing light over the complex relationship between story and place.