Introduction — City Branding and New Media: Linguistic, Discursive and Semiotic Aspects

Abstract

In the age of globalisation where intercity competition plays a paramount role, city branding appears as an increasingly relevant field in the wider sectors of public policy and urban governance. A significant part of it takes place online and is circulated through dedicated new media channels and digital genres. The book stresses the importance of dedicating serious scholarly attention to the linguistic, discursive and semiotic strategies through which the contemporary city engages its local and global stakeholders. It espouses a discourse-based approach that combines linguistics, Discourse Analysis and social semiotics in order to provide new insights into the forms and strategies of city branding. The focus of the analysis is on the observable standardisation of public-sector communication and the resulting conventionality of citizen-centric digital genres.