But cities like the people who live in them, are subject to attention economies. And therefore they are transforming themselves to appeal to modern desires of urban living by using the same attention-grabbing strategies of social media influencers and pop culture figures.
Authenticity is just a word to describe what is ‘predictably unique.’ David A. Banks describes this predictability of how culture, place, and style are packaged to be recognizable and therefore consumable by a general audience.
Slowly, as each city loudly claims that it is unique and different, everywhere looks the same. Cities and neighborhoods are branding themselves into predictable unique products that lack daringness, only with a hint of “local flare”, some local brewery or a “city” store that sells city-branded products. The whole scene increasingly becoming a prop and backdrop for a life on Social media.
These “authentic” cities are a concurrence of ascendant marketing and economic development techniques highlighting the popularity of urban life to trigger investments in cities. Unlike the previous urban development movements which supported inspiring theatres, and museums and used the power of zoning codes to plan highways and subdivisions, “authentic cities” use social media to revitalize the city squares and attract new investments.
