Talking of places as ‘brands’ makes me shudder. Every year, I see a new district or city ‘brand’ and cringe. It’s just not realistic equating a place with a brand. It feels artificial and dehumanising, taking away from the idea that a place is comprised of people.

Places are thoughts and feelings – they have buildings and landmarks, yes, but those are just frameworks for exciting and meaningful stuff to happen to us. Most importantly, as well as being physical spaces, they hold hugely emotional equity in people’s hearts and minds. So, articulating their meaning comes with incredible responsibility.

Having said that, it’s a valuable practice to look at a city through the lens of a brand – to apply the singularity of a brand to something that’s as messy and complex as places are, particularly cities and even countries.

Uncovering and articulating a place’s personality should be about crafting purpose. The discipline of brand can help you do so – shaping that messiness into meaning. But it’s an act of excavating and digging, not one of creating and dictating. Let’s call it ‘place shaping’ – taking a place’s cultural mass and cultural equity and moulding it into something that’s more clearly understood. It’s about cultivating something that people want to own, stand behind and are proud to be part of.