By Guillaume Cocken, Chief Operating Officer, BRASH

We’re entering a new era of city-making. For the first time, cities aren’t being retrofitted to old systems - they’re being built from scratch. That changes everything.

When you start with a blank page, you’re not just branding infrastructure. You’re redesigning how people live, move, work, play, and connect. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink urban life entirely. But vision alone won’t cut it.

When there’s no history to lean on, the brand becomes the foundation. In new cities, brand isn’t a logo or a launch campaign. It’s the organising force. It shapes decisions from day one: architecture, mobility, partnerships, culture, and community. The most successful mega-developments don’t apply the brand at the end. They build with it from the start.

Vision without limits

A city built from the ground up demands absolute clarity of purpose. Legacy planning models can’t keep up with the speed or ambition of future-focused developments. What’s needed is a strong identity that answers what the place stands for, who it serves, and how life within it should feel.

The most ambitious new cities aren’t defined by their masterplans alone. They’re powered by a clear, shared narrative. Brand becomes a living system - guiding everything from district layout design to daily public experiences.

Saudi Arabia: When brand becomes city DNA

Saudi Arabia is showing what happens when brand leads city-building, not the other way around. Take Qiddiya City. Positioned as the Capital of Play - a city built around the idea that through play we can positively transform societies. This identity is not a slogan. It informs the design and experiences of its key assets. The Performing Arts Centre dissolves the boundary between audience and performer. A dedicated gaming and esports district replaces passive engagement with physical movement and interaction. Even the city’s layout reinforces play as a way of life. Every asset, experience, and partnership point in the same direction. Brand acts as the compass - keeping the city bold, coherent, and focused.

Then there’s The Red Sea Development. Here, the idea is regenerative luxury. Nature isn’t a backdrop; it’s the lead. From carbon-neutral systems to habitat restoration, from low-impact architecture to seamless visitor journeys, every decision reinforces the promise: protect what exists and elevate how it’s experienced. The brand creates discipline. Nothing is built unless it belongs.

The takeaway

The cities of the future won’t be remembered for what they built - but for what they stood and stand for. In a world of ‘new', brand is strategy. It’s what turns ambition into alignment, and vision into reality.