ATHENS CITY BRANDING PROJECT 2020
2ND PART: Cities’ Insights Developing Cities Meaningful & Actionable Insights
The next step was to create the right ground for us to innovate through Athens City Branding 2020. So by studying the official growth indexes of a city, the second step after analyzing standard — city models of the world was to develop the Cities Meaningful & Actionable Insights and for the city of Athens, through the following axes: Perspectives, Visions, Challenges, Opportunities, Branding Aspirations & Narratives.
Starting from scratch: The official city’s development indexes
So, by focusing on the importance of Athens as a city that has potentials to further highlight its brand in the context of global competition, the main goal of cities is to increase their penetration over others. This purpose also shapes the development axes of Athens, so that it becomes a center of world culture, a feature that cannot be avoided due to its long historical route, but also a reference point for gastronomy, enabling environment and cultural vibrancy since it is 5th in the European table capitals and 1st in culture venues and facilities.
1# Liveable
Starting with the “Liveable” index, a city to be liveable must be of medium size and consist of 1–3 million inhabitants. To achieve this, it must have a high quality education system, a well-funded public health system and functional transport systems. It is also necessary to provide rich choices in cultural activities, to emit stability, to invest in infrastructure and to have an environmental awareness.
2# Sustainable
Combined with the “Sustainability” index, the most important thing is to emphasize the citizens by treating them as the most important Capital of a city. Thus, the following three pillars of sustainability should be the core of our design, for example through social mobility focusing on the vision of citizens and the quality of opportunities and life in general, as well as a clear definition of how to manage energy, pollution and exhaust fumes, and finally in the evaluation of environmental companies and the economic operation to achieve profit.
3# Smart
The “Smart” index, in the city of Athens, is largely disappearing, especially in practical areas related to public transportation, health systems, public safety and productivity. Effectively developing these four axes can improve the quality of life of residents, who will be able to have more time with family and friends, time for personal exercise and longer breaks. It also encourages greater chances of financial well-being, productivity and more time for oneself, components that can help reduce stress, depression and therefore life expectancy.
Athens’ Challenge
Athens’ challenge lies precisely in the smart index, which ranks 95th out of 102 cities, a C (A to D) performance index, and in issues it must address by prioritizing security, labor and unemployment, corruption, traffic congestion, public transportation, as well as green spaces, technologies related to crime reduction and citizens’ trust in the authorities.
4# Culture & Creativity
Continuing with the growth indicators of a city, the “Culture and Creativity” index contributes to higher economic growth rates and is vital for low-income cities, according to the EU. Cultural heritage is a key element of the image and identity of cities and towns. The cultural and creative sectors need to be integrated into regional and local development strategies to promote traditional cultural goods, develop creative businesses, invest in infrastructure and human resources and the positive footprint it can have on the local economy. A typical example mentioned at the beginning of the Athens City Branding Project 2020 narratives is the Barcelona Model and the Mobile World Congress 2017, where Science is linked to Art.
At the same time, it is necessary to emphasize the Cultural Vibrancy of a city, the indicators of “Cultural Venues and Facilities”, as for example the attractions, museums, galleries, cinemas, concert venues and theaters. Also, the “Cultural Participation and Attractiveness” Index is important for cities to attract local, national and international audiences by focusing on overnight stays, museum visitors, cinema spectators and satisfaction with cultural facilities.
In the field of creative economy, focus should be on the “Creative & Knowledge-based Jobs” index, counting which cities have a pool of highly skilled workers in areas such as information, communication, advertising, fashion, the arts and job creation in arts, culture, entertainment, media as well as other creative fields. The “Intellectual Property & Innovation” Index is also important as it assesses whether a city favors innovation and can emerge through ICT patent applications and community design applications. In this context, it is also crucial to open New Jobs in Creative Sectors to new arts, culture and entertainment businesses, new media and communication companies, new businesses in creative fields as we see how well a city can translate creative and innovative ideas into new ones jobs and in jobs in start-ups.
The Athens Status: Top Indexes
- 1st in cultural spaces and facilities
- 2nd (among 75 European cities) in the category where the majority of residents are not more than 2 km from the nearest cultural site
- 5th in Cultural vibrancy in relation to its population
- 10th in Human Capital and Education
- 14th in Creation and Knowledge-based on work
- 29th in Creative Economy
- 31st in New Jobs in Creative Sectors
- 33rd in a Favorable Environment
- 39th in Cultural Participation and Attractiveness
- 39th in Intellectual Property and Innovation
5# Resilient
Continuing, with the resilience index of a city, the key pillars that a city needs to navigate to thrive are dealing with or managing climate change issues, data and technology, seismic resilience, economic growth, education and social infrastructure. Also, issues that are included are related to cultural heritage and culture, housing, natural resources and infrastructure, resilience after disasters, issues of social equality, transportation, water and health systems.
6# Intelligent
In the “Intelligent’ index, the main focus is on advanced technologies such as e-government, which will transform the daily lives of citizens, businesses, employees and entrepreneurs. This is done at three levels, that of the city, innovation and ICT. At the city level, the intelligence, ingenuity, and creativity of people living and working in a city is related to the natural space of cities and the people who live in it. At the level of innovation, the institutional space of cities, the social capital and the collective intelligence of the population of a city, the institutional mechanisms for the development of knowledge and cooperation in learning and innovation, are elements that work favorably, while at the ICT level, digital space and artificial intelligence are integrated into the city’s natural environment with public broadband infrastructure, wired and wireless, as well as digital technologies and applications that support e-services are practices that will facilitate a city’s IQ.
7# Global Power
The “Global Powers” index, and the perceptions we received, we noticed that the top cities with this index are London, New York, Tokyo and Paris. It is worth noting that London, although ranked 1st, has seen a decline in its cohesive strength due to Brexit and related negotiations that followed throughout 2019. Management and environmental protection are keys to the competitive power among cities with Scandinavian capitals, Zurich, Sydney and Melbourne to be the protagonists of competitiveness. At this level therefore, it is observed that the biggest challenge for the city of Athens has to do with the management of the natural environment and the treatment of climate change.
8# Youthful
The “Youthful” Index, according to the Canadian model, helps us to create an Athens that communicates, is extrovert, dynamic, inventive and playful.
9# Safe
The “Safe” index has to do with the security and transparency levels of a city, which are proportionally related to the level of its earnings, which directly depends on the policies of each government. Thus, the security index of cities in relation to transparency directly affects a city’s resilience index in a crisis, as if the infrastructure is properly prepared they are able to deal with it effectively. A typical example is the city of Tokyo, which is ranked as the 1st safest city in the world, as it is characterized by high healthcare systems, strong cybersecurity management teams, community safety patrols and dynamic plans on issues that can bring a crisis or a disaster such as terrorism, and natural disasters.
Athens’ Challenge
Athens’ challenge has to do with how fast-growing cities can offer services that are easily and universally accessible to all social groups and provide security to residents, businesses and visitors. As mentioned above, Tokio invests in the initiative of citizens, develops relationships of trust in issues of digital security, health security, infrastructure and personal security. In relation to these four levels mentioned above, the biggest challenge today is the management and treatment of Covid-19.
Cities Stakeholder Analysis / Mapping / Collaborative Partnerhsips:
For Athens’ Vision City Branding, the method for increasing the attraction and recognition of the city, is based on understanding the needs of potential “consumers” of the city and desires, where the 3 main functions of cities are based on “live”, “visit”, “be active in business”. In the Stakeholders section, the participation of the residents of a city is important as they can take on the role of citizens, be members of the place branding as well as Brand ambassadors in the identity of a city. The participation of visitors can take the role of tourists for leisure or tourists for business (conferences, daily travelers, transit). Finally, entrepreneurs can be the residents of the city with commercial or business activity or economic-work context that operates the city (tax incentives, specialized workforce, availability of supplies, etc.).
The dominant City Brand Elements have to do with Local Transport, Accessibility, the Natural Environment, Public Spaces, Business Opportunities, Commercial Activities, Social Connection and Culture. Finally, the dominant Insights we received and related to Citizens Engagement come from the Berlin Model (B-Berlin Project) and the questions that arise concern what are the three main characteristics in Athens, how one recognizes that one is in Athens and when does anyone feel like an Athenian? The campaign for Athens will be based on social media. Also, in public places, citizens will be invited to record (for example on large boards or ballot boxes that will be placed in the emblematic places of the city, such as Acropolis, Roman Market, Varvakeios Agora, Syntagma, Agia Irini Square, etc.) by answering to these three questions.
To Sum Up: “Brand is in the Air”
Perspectives:
- Berlin & Barcelona models
- Safety & resilient models
Visions:
- To become more Smart
- Citizens Engagement
- Social Mobility
Challenges
- Covid — 19 & Tourism
- Green Spaces
- Unemployment
Opportunities
- Investing in “great minds”
- Opening to digital technologies
- Utilization of business minds
Branding Aspirations & Narratives
- Athens of the future and not of the past
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because and only when they are created by everybody”
Janes Jacobs
Team: Zinovia Sapouna, Areti Tatsi
