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Climate crisis as a business opportunity: Using degrowth to defamiliarize place branding for sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Katie R. Sullivan

    (University of Colorado Colorado Springs)

  • Jon Bertilsson

    (Lund University)

  • Jens Rennstam

    (Lund University)

Abstract

Place branders express a desire for their work to aid in addressing crises such as climate change through sustainable developments that assist with brand positioning, yet little is known about how place branding professionals manage tensions and contradictions that arise between sustainability and investment development. This paper qualitatively explores how place branders talk about ecological sustainability at a place branding conference. We pose the research question, how do place branders communicatively construct the meaning of place branding for sustainability? Our key finding is that place branders reframe ecological crises as an “exclusive” business and brand-building opportunity. Rather than viewing this as “business as usual,” we use defamiliarization as a method of disrupting common sense and presenting the familiar as “strange,” and we employ degrowth ideas as a tool for doing so. We show how place branding for sustainability is constructed as a matter of making a place attractive to businesses that can generate green growth, and how this is done by suppressing aspects that challenge this view. In doing this, we provide a deeper insight into how certain, pro-growth-oriented sustainability practices are communicatively maintained, and into the struggles branders face when tasked with place branding for sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Katie R. Sullivan & Jon Bertilsson & Jens Rennstam, 2025. "Climate crisis as a business opportunity: Using degrowth to defamiliarize place branding for sustainability," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(1), pages 4-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:pbapdi:v:21:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41254-024-00348-3
    DOI: 10.1057/s41254-024-00348-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marta Hereźniak & Justyna Anders-Morawska, 2021. "Public value-driven place branding. The way forward?," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 65-77, March.
    2. Jason Hickel & Giorgos Kallis, 2020. "Is Green Growth Possible?," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 469-486, June.
    3. Viriya Taecharungroj & Morakot Muthuta & Pheereeya Boonchaiyapruek, 2019. "Sustainability as a place brand position: a resident-centric analysis of the ten towns in the vicinity of Bangkok," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 15(4), pages 210-228, December.
    4. Mihalis Kavaratzis & Magdalena Florek, 2021. "Special Section: The future of place branding," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 63-64, March.
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