“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAE

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dc.contributor.authorSotoudehnia, Maral
dc.contributor.supervisorRose-Redwood, Reuben Skye
dc.date.accessioned2013-08-29T18:28:09Z
dc.date.available2013-08-29T18:28:09Z
dc.date.copyright2013en_US
dc.date.issued2013-08-29
dc.degree.departmentDept. of Geographyen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractAs cities continue to compete for regional and global primacy, governments around the world have drawn upon a series of entrepreneurial tactics to secure investment. Along with city branding initiatives aimed at producing positive images of the city, governments increasingly seek to generate revenue through the corporate sponsorship of public place names, or what I term toponymic branding. Drawing upon government documents and 15 semi-structured interviews, this study examines how the neoliberalization of place through city and toponymic branding is currently reshaping the geographies of urban governance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), by considering two case studies: the naming of the Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) and the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative. In addition to semi-structured interviews conducted in situ, this research draws upon a variety of web-based marketing materials designed to promote the Burj Khalifa as an icon of Dubai and the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative as a cutting-edge tool to increase revenue generation for the Government of Dubai. This thesis suggests that, despite efforts to maximize profits through city and toponymic branding campaigns, the renaming of the Burj Khalifa undercuts previous positive associations stakeholders held with the “tallest building in the world,” the city, and its brand. This study also demonstrates that, through the Dubai Metro Naming Rights Initiative, the Government of Dubai has used toponymic branding as a political tool to foster relationships with members of the business community. In doing so, the current research contributes to critical toponymic and urban geographic scholarship by examining the political economy of toponymic branding as a strategy of neoliberal urbanism in Dubai.en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0366en_US
dc.description.proquestemailmsotou@uvic.caen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/4864
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectcity brandingen_US
dc.subjectdiscourse analysisen_US
dc.subjectDubaien_US
dc.subjectnaming rightsen_US
dc.subjectneoliberalismen_US
dc.subjectpastoral poweren_US
dc.subjectpolitical economyen_US
dc.subjectcritical toponymyen_US
dc.subjecturban governanceen_US
dc.title“Turn Your Brand into a Destination”: City Branding, Naming Rights, and the Neoliberalization of Dubai, UAEen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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