Methodological elements to design a city branding with the use of grounded theory

[EN] City branding was established as an endogenous development strategy – the need to build the city’s own identity. This identity is reached through the study of the history, culture, economy, trajectory, products and potential development as well as the design of symbolic structures to attract investors and tourists and to create specific demands. The participation of a government entity is expected for these purposes thus encouraging those contributions from academic areas, entrepreneurs, cultural representatives including those community traditions. On the other hand, this participation should be supplemented with studies focused on the reality of the population, its history, and the actions that promoted city development. Cities and strategic associates should accompany these above mentioned entities in the purpose of designing their city branding, by building a model of participatory planning, a symbolic representation and a media plan guaranteeing that recognition as a territory with competitive values and advantages is a reality. To contribute to these goals, a methodological proposal with key elements for the design of the city brand using a research focused on quality review of documentation and grounded theory is presented. This study used Atlas Ti and VOSViewer software to analyze data. The research resulted in the precise definition of specific city branding and established strategic planning, management environment, and fundamental branding structure as those key founding elements for any particular city branding.