Why place branding is helping Ghent to become more ‘Ghentian’

A strong place brand strategy isn’t about crafting an entirely new story for your place. It’s about articulating and amplifying your existing strengths. It’s about providing a platform that encourages your residents to be proud of their home. And it’s about creating a shared language for all your stakeholders to talk about your place and that charts an aspirational path forwards.For Ghent in Belgium, this means creating processes to ensure that actions taken by the city and its citizens help make Ghent more ‘Ghentian.’ We caught up with Eveline Vincke, Place Brand Manager for the City of Ghent and one of our expert CNP Awards jurors, to understand how they’re bringing this strategy to life in the city. A place brand is so much more than a logo, and the Ghent place brand is built around the notion of “What makes Ghent ‘Ghentian’? What process did you go through to uncover what ‘Ghentian’ looked and felt like?” In 2019, the City of Ghent launched a large-scale participatory process to uncover what truly makes the city ‘Ghentian’. Guided by place branding experts from For The Love of Place, the goal was to define a shared identity that could serve as the foundation for a distinctive and authentic place brand.The process began with a deep dive into Ghent’s DNA, using a mix of qualitative methods: desk research, interviews with key figures, and immersive visits to local communities. A diverse first focus group—including voices from academia, the arts, business, and the local community—came together to shape a shared understanding of the city’s character. This was followed by four co-creative workshops with stakeholders from both public and private sectors.Validation was key. The emerging identity was tested through surveys with residents and European partners, focus groups with city staff and underrepresented communities, and thematic workshops applying the brand lens to real-life domains such as events, international positioning, and urban development. This ensured the brand was not only aspirational, but also grounded in lived experience.The result was a clear articulation of what it means to be ‘Ghentian’: rebellious and self-reliant, proudly unconventional, open and inclusive, and deeply collaborative. These values now shape a brand narrative that positions Ghent as a “free city”—a place where people are encouraged to think differently, challenge norms, and move forward together How does ‘being more Ghentian’ translate into practical action within your strategy? 'Being more Ghentian’ means using the city’s identity as a strategic compass—making it tangible in everything we do. We translate this into action through a multi-track strategy focused on internal and external brand activation, sectoral integration, image-defining projects and events, and continuous evaluation.Internally, we build brand awareness through presentations, internal communication, and tools like the Brand Filter Workshop and the Brand Reflex Forum. These help embed the brand in daily operations and strategic decision-making, while encouraging teams to reflect on how their work contributes to the city’s identity.Externally, we engage stakeholders through workshops, a dedicated website, and collaborations—such as co-founding the Flemish Network of Place Branding. We stay in close contact with sectoral departments to support the ongoing application of the brand in areas like urban development, tourism, the economy, and gastronomy—for example, through a culinary DNA charter, which restaurants and food producers sign as a commitment to represent the city’s culinary identity.For major events—such as the Velo-city Conference and Ghent European Youth Capital—we aim to reflect the Ghentian spirit in both content and communication. We also monitor our impact through large-scale image studies.In short, ‘being more Ghentian’ is an ongoing process of learning, experimenting, and refining—of asking the right questions, involving the right people, and daring to challenge ourselves. The brand gives us direction, but it’s through practice, dialogue, and iteration that it becomes truly meaningful. Has the brand filter led to policy changes that make it easier to be more Ghentian? While the brand filter hasn’t resulted in formal legislative changes, it has had a meaningful impact on how policy is shaped and implemented across the city. The Ghentian brand was politically endorsed and formally embedded in a city council decision. Strong backing from both the mayor and the city’s chief executive ensures strategic alignment and high-level support. Brand management also maintains close contact with the strategic department, which advises on policy development and organisational change.A key mechanism in this process is the Brand Reflex Forum (BRF)—an annual workshop with the city’s management team. The BRF is not only a tool to apply the brand filter to early-stage projects; it also plays a crucial role in embedding the brand reflex at the highest level of the organisation. By discussing upcoming initiatives through the lens of the Ghentian brand, the BRF helps keep the brand top of mind for decision-makers and encourages strategic alignment.That said, maintaining a consistent brand reflex across a large and complex municipal organisation is an ongoing challenge. It requires continuous effort and dialogue. Ensuring the brand remains visible and relevant across diverse departments and policy domains is not automatic. It is a process that we approach with persistence and realism.So, while the brand filter hasn’t rewritten policy, it has reshaped the culture and mindset behind it—making it easier to think and act in a way that is distinctly Ghentian. What’s your favourite initiative that’s come from this approach to ‘Ghentify’ Ghent? Why was it successful? One of our favourite examples of how the Ghentian brand has been embedded in city practice is its inclusion as a criterion in the design procurement guide Samen Stad Ontwerpen (“Designing the City Together”), developed by the city architect’s team. This guide ensures that public design projects in Ghent are awarded not only based on legal and technical quality, but also on how well they reflect the city’s identity.The Ghentian brand—defined by the values of being united, offbeat, and groundbreaking—is one of eight criteria used to evaluate design proposals. This encourages architects and developers to create projects that resonate with the city’s character and contribute to a vibrant local design culture.While many projects are still in development, we’re already seeing results. The Robuuste Woningen (“Robust housing”)—a housing project for people with a history of homelessness—won the Ghent Architecture Prize and is a strong example of how social impact and Ghentian values can go hand in hand. The transformation of the Heilig Hartkerk (“Sacred Heart Church”) into a community center and social restaurant, is another inspiring case reflecting inclusiveness and adaptive reuse.This initiative is successful because it translates abstract brand values into tangible design ambitions—without being overly prescriptive. It gives designers the freedom to interpret what it means to be ‘Ghentian’, while still aligning with a shared vision. How are you measuring the impact of Ghent’s place brand strategy? To measure the impact of our place brand strategy, we conduct a large-scale image study every three years. This research tracks how well Ghent is known, whether its image is positive and distinctive, and to what extent the brand values— engaging, offbeat, and groundbreaking—are recognised and associated with the city.Beyond perception, we also assess the added value of the brand for the city and its residents. This includes indicators related to resident wellbeing—such as pride, sense of belonging and engagement— and to the city’s competitiveness, including attractiveness as a place to live, work, and visit, as well as how Ghent is rated compared to other cities. We specifically examine how these outcomes relate to the perception of the brand and its values.The recurring nature of the study allows us to identify trends over time and adjust our strategy accordingly. Results are shared with the city’s management team and across departments, ensuring that insights inform both strategic decisions and day-to-day operations.In this way, we not only monitor the visibility and resonance of the brand, but also its real-world impact on how people experience and contribute to life in Ghent. If you had an unlimited budget, what would be the next initiative or strategy that you launched? If budget were no constraint, we would focus on accelerating the implementation of the Ghent brand across the city. A key priority would be the relaunch of a Brand Fund—an expanded version of our former city marketing fund. This fund would support initiatives that strengthen Ghent’s identity, from cultural events to spatial projects and community-driven campaigns, evaluated on their alignment with the brand values and strategic impact.We would also invest in expanding the place branding team. More capacity means better support for departments and partners in applying the brand filter, ensuring consistent and meaningful integration of the Ghentian identity in policy and practice.Finally, we would launch an annual Ghentian Inspiration Day—a celebration of brand-aligned initiatives and the people behind them. This event would foster awareness, share best practices, and reward those who embody the Ghentian spirit with a dedicated award.Together, these initiatives would build a stronger ecosystem around the brand—making it more actionable, visible, and impactful throughout the city. Finally, as one of our jurors, what will you be looking for in a winning entry? As a juror, I’ll be looking for entries that clearly show how their project, initiative, or strategy has made a meaningful contribution to their place—whether by enhancing competitiveness or by improving the wellbeing of residents and communities. That impact can take many forms: from spatial or social interventions to strong communication campaigns that bring the place brand to life.I’m especially inspired by cases that demonstrate how a place brand has been translated into concrete action—helping to overcome a challenge or seize an opportunity. Whether it’s a policy shift, a public space redesign, or a storytelling campaign that strengthens local pride, what matters is that the brand is used as a strategic tool, not just a label. And if the project is supported by data or clear evidence of impact, that’s a big plus.Too often, place branding is still seen as something purely promotional or commercial. That’s why I value entries that prove otherwise—showing that branding can be a powerful driver of real, positive change. Those are the entries that will earn my vote. Thank you for sharing that with us, Eveline! The City Nation Place Awards are open for entry! Enter by September 10th to celebrate the hard work, dedication, and ingenuity of your team.

Why place branding is helping Ghent to become more ‘Ghentian’

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