Şehir markalama neoliberal bir araç mıdır? Gaziantep kenti örneği

There has been a crucial transformation from manufacturing economy to service-sector (knowledge) economy throughout the world; that is, global economy has emerged. In this study, impacts of global economy and globalization on urban transformation have been analysed from the neoliberal perspective. As cities are open to global influences, new urban strategies have appeared to manage competition among cities and attract more tourists, investors, big companies and so on. Since driving forces of the competition is composed of intangible measures like creative labour, innovative ideas and like, urban transformation as a process has been experienced. There have been two main aims of the study. The first of which is to discuss whether or not city branding is a neoliberal instrument to manage competition among the worlds' cities by giving reference to strong relationship between global economy, globalization and city branding. The second aim is to examine the way Turkish national and local governments understood and implemented the concept of city branding. It has been analysed both in central and local level by focusing especially on Gaziantep as case study. Key Words: city branding, urban transformation, globalization, place branding