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Introduction
The identity of cities and regions is a concern of many who reflect the spatial consequences of globalization, global values, global mobility, and global consumption patterns (Kunzmann, 2004). Since the 1980s when the creative city (Landry, 2000) started to become a new broad strategy trend for economic and community development, including neighborhood, community, and downtown revitalization (Markusen and Gadwa, 2010), many cities in North America, Europe, and Britain (Glasgow, Liverpool, etc.) have turned to the arts as a means of "branding" or re-imaging the city (Montgomery, 1990).
In this article, we review the state of knowledge about arts and culture as the main element of a place's image and highlight tools used by planners and decision makers to achieve regional development through existing resources. We accomplish this speculation by referring to literature resources that examine the reciprocal relationship between culture and place branding, from a wide range of disciplines: marketing, place branding, cultural management, urban studies, cultural policy, etc. The objective behind this review is to provide a coherent language system for the study of place branding theory.
Beginning our research and having as the central pillar the bibliographical resource of Anholt's (2007) City Brand Hexagon, about branding regions and taking as given that "culture is one of the main factors influencing a place's reputation", we come across other authors supporting this crucial statement providing strong links between culture and place branding. After a thorough lecture, we discover that both place branding and culture seek the same principal point: authenticity. In the light of the theoretical assumptions, there is room for arguments supporting the "go global: stay local" strategies that look to culture-led regeneration and the celebration of diversity (Evans, 2003), based on the power emerged by local creative industries.
Epigrammatic review of place branding
With a view to study the relationship of these two interwoven fields - as we will shortly notice, we should start by defining their essential significance. In the pioneering literature about place branding, at least three definitions can be distinguished. First, the Journal of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy suggests the following definition: "Place branding is the practice of applying brand strategy and other marketing techniques and disciplines to the economic, social, political and cultural development of cities,...