This paper explores how XR and Metaverse create digital metacontexts that could support place-making processes. We argue that XR technologies possess transformative potential comparable to social networks impact on society over the past two decades. Through their capacity to generate immersive 3D digital interactions, these technologies enable new forms of place meaning-making that extend beyond traditional physical boundaries. This study examines how XR and the Metaverse support place-making by creating layered digital experiences that enhance place attachment, community engagement, and spatial meaning. Our findings suggest that these technologies offer more than promotional tools, they serve as instruments for collaborative place-making, place creation and community development.

Presenting a cautionary tale of crisis and rebirth, this chapter highlights the fragility of food and tourism systems and the risks of crossing thresholds of overtourism to underline the need for a more sustainable form of tourism. From a futures perspective, we illustrate the interaction of main drivers, crises and turning points. Underscoring the importance of climate change as a main driver of food and tourism systems, we highlight crises as equivocal signals, variously harbingers of doom or salvation. These signals can be heeded or ignored, thresholds avoided or exceeded. Travelling the space between doom and salvation in this scenario we mount a call to heed extant signals and enact change. 

Highlights

The chapter relates to and elaborates upon the themes of the La Natura Food Trail.

Covid-19 and climate change are key drivers inspiring concern with sustainability, localness, slowness in the development of future food tourism. 

Real food, simplicity, wholesomeness, and regeneration form the basis of Swedish food tourism.

The future of food tourism is small and exclusive.

Food has been recognized as a source of tourist experience and a basis for place and destination marketing. Food culture, quality and culinary activities can offer memorable gastronomic experiences. An everyday necessity, while traveling food becomes the part of destination attraction and tourist place experience. The tourism industry has witnessed rising interest in food, tourists increasingly seeking out unique food and beverage experiences through food tours, food- and beverage-focused events, and activities. The intersection of food and place delivers the ingredients of authenticity, novelty, and locality fundamental to memorable tourist experiences. The evolution of food tourism from a mere tasting experience to a multifaceted exploration of local culinary traditions, beverages, and cultural practices underscores its significance in shaping the image of a place. Food tourism has thus emerged as a pivotal element in the realm of place branding, offering a unique avenue for places to distinguish themselves and create a lasting impression on visitors.

This special issue is based on papers presented at the seventh annual conference of the International Place Branding Association (IPBA), held in Helsingborg, Sweden, in October 2023. The conference was co-organised by three universities: Lund University, Halmstad University and Kristianstad University. Themed Place Branding in Times of Crisis and Uncertainty, the conference brought together more than 150 participants from around the world and “is shaping up to be one of the biggest and best IPBA conferences yet”, as IPBA Chairman Robert Govers wrote in his introductory remarks (Cassinger et al., 2023, p. 14).

This paper critically examines place branding strategies across the urban-rural spectrum, identifying conceptual gaps in how branding strategies are formulated and applied in different spatial contexts. While extensive literature exists on urban place branding, frameworks for rural, remote, and peripheral areas remain underdeveloped. We question why urban-centric approaches fail in rural settings and we explore theoretical foundations needed for effective rural-peripheral place branding, examining whether socio-economic structure, stakeholder composition, and place identity formation differences necessitate distinct theoretical approaches.

Wine tourism is a global phenomenon that influences the economic, social, and cultural development of wine countries, regions, and destinations. It has been defined as tourism activities centred around vineyards and wineries worldwide, highlighting vineyard visitations, wine events, festivals, and wine tasting, creating complex experiences of a wine region as a destination worth visiting. Beyond merely focusing on wine products, wine tourism connects wine with local culture, heritage, and landscapes. The winescape concept occurs, intertwining wine tourism with place branding, to shape the image and identity of wine regions. Research in wine tourism shows a strong geographical clustering, focusing on ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ wine countries alongside emerging ‘cool climate’ wine countries. Factors such as climate change, overtourism, and the shift towards sustainable and regenerative tourism are key drivers shaping the development of the wine tourism sector.

Cities worldwide are recognised as major consumers of global natural and energy resources. Amidst pressing environmental, climate and urbanisation challenges, cities play a pivotal role in the global transition towards sustainability. Traditionally, circular economy (CE) principles have been embraced by businesses and governments to enhance resource efficiency and foster sustainable development.  However, it is crucial to extend these principles to the city level, creating more resilient and sustainable urban environments and building a circular city brand. This study identifies several circular initiatives in Swedish cities, opening the opportunities for using circularity in city branding. These examples showcase holistic system thinking, like sewage and energy systems, and industrial symbiosis between companies. They also highlight the sustainable kitchen, covering food waste, transportation, values, and behaviours. The social dimension is crucial, especially for fostering a diverse and inclusive knowledge base for circular city brand.  

The aim of this study is to discuss to what extend CE principles can be utilised in city branding strategies.

Theoretical framework. ‘Circular city’ is a relatively new concept, characterised by city’s ability to maximise resource value, minimise waste generation and foster sustainable innovations. Building upon the principles of smart and sustainable cities, circular cities further develop and integrate these concepts, placing primary emphasis on stakeholder engagement, cooperation, and co-creation utilising digital technologies.    

Main research approach. Research on circular city branding is rather fragmented and needs further conceptualisation. Descriptive research approach is based on the analysis of existing circular city initiatives in Sweden and provides insights, suggestions, and directions of building a city brand with circularity in focus.  

Key arguments/findings. The findings suggest the importance of collaboration, innovation, and digital technologies for building a circular city brand. 

Conclusions. This study discusses the potential of integrating CE principles into city branding. By recognizing cities as key players in the global sustainability transition policymakers, urban planners, and place branding professionals can develop effective strategies to promote circularity at the city level. 

Several practical implications can be considered: 

·       Cities should align place branding with CE principles to communicate their commitment to sustainability and resilience.

·       Engaging different groups of stakeholders is essential for co-creating circular city initiatives and fostering a sense of ownership and participation.

·       Leveraging digital technologies can enhance stakeholder engagement, facilitate collaboration, and communicate circularity initiatives effectively.

·       Learning from existing circular city initiatives, both within Sweden and globally, can provide valuable insights for building a successful city brand with circularity in focus.

This research focuses on the significance of place experiences in shaping effective place branding strategies. It introduces anovel method that leverages social media data analytics to uncover and understand place experiences, addressing the challengesof capturing these elusive experiences. The study examines the 20 major cities in the Nordic region, investigating bothcommon and distinctive place experiences among them. Additionally, it explores the changes in place experiences duringthe COVID-19 pandemic, shedding light on the impact of the crisis on people’s experiences in those cities. The researchcollected a dataset of 1,943,772 tweets associated with the 20 cities from 2017 to 2022, and employed various analyticaltechniques including topic modelling, associative word analysis, and principal component analysis to analyse and visualisethe place experiences. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the practical applications of generative AI in place branding byusing Midjourney and GPT-4 to create branding materials that capture the unique experiences of a city. Overall, the researchcontributes to the understanding of place experiences, introduces a multi-level perspective, and highlights the potential ofgenerative AI in place branding. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Purpose: This study aims to discuss the contribution of street art projects to the place-making of villages and the effects it generates for local stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual framework is developed based on the main characteristics of the place-making process, street art, creative place-making, as well as place identity, revitalisation and regeneration. This framework defines a set of thematic categories for the qualitative content analysis of online information, e.g. websites, media and blog posts, as well as in-depth interviews with local stakeholders. Findings: This research presents the contribution of street art in place-making involving citizens, local businesses and international artists in a collective act to preserve local identity and revitalise and regenerate villages. Research limitations/implications: The research is focused only on villages. Cities are not considered in the research. Practical implications: Street art projects provide villages with several opportunities, such as stimulating place regeneration and revitalisation, giving new shape and decoration to neighbourhoods and streets and attracting visitors and business. Moreover, street art is commonly used to communicate local history, culture, traditions and social and political facts, helping places to vehiculate their identity and their messages to the next generations. Street art is also used as a part of a place branding strategy. Social implications: The village gets the opportunity to exploit the street art value proposition to stimulate the restocking of the place, if the primary stakeholders of the place are ready to invest in the new place identity giving trust to the street art project. Originality/value: Street art projects contribute to the place-making of villages. They are used to communicate place identity, fostering cooperation between local stakeholders and economic and social development. © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.