Regiobranding - Branding of urban-rural regions through cultural landscape characteristics (definition phase)

Brief Description:
Landscape quality and the associated quality of life are becoming an increasingly important location factor in the competition between European regions. At present, however, the potential offered by landscapes as well as the history and present expressed in them and the associated environmental qualities are not yet fully exploited in the identity and image formation of regions. Urban regions in particular define themselves externally and internally far more through urban infrastructure and culture than through landscape and thus environmental quality, although the latter is of equally great importance to citizens. Accordingly, little research has been done so far on ways to operationalize landscape qualities and the identity-creating landscape history in a systematic and credible way for "branding" urban-rural regions.

Background and Objectives:
Landscape quality and the associated quality of life are becoming an increasingly important location factor in the competition between European regions. At present, however, the potential offered by landscapes as well as the history and present expressed in them and the associated environmental qualities are not yet fully exploited in the identity and image formation of regions. Urban regions in particular define themselves externally and internally far more through urban infrastructure and culture than through landscape and thus environmental quality, although the latter is of equally great importance to citizens. Accordingly, little research has been done so far on how landscape qualities and the identity-creating landscape history can be operationalized systematically and credibly for the "branding" of urban-rural regions. Using the example of the Hamburg metropolitan region, ways to achieve such "bottom-up branding" will be developed and tested. To this end, a comprehensive communication and learning process will also be initiated and implemented across all scale levels in the region. In addition to an innovation plan for the metropolitan region, action instructions for the implementation of such processes will be created and the applicability of the developed approach for other issues will be demonstrated.
In the definition phase, the idea for the project "Regiobranding" was elaborated, goals and work steps were concretized, and the project team from science and practice was assembled for joint research and implementation. As a result of this project phase, a project application for the funding of a main phase was developed and submitted to the BMBF. The application was approved, so that the main phase and thus the actual work on the project topic could begin at the end of 2014.