Design and co-creation in place branding: the case of Porto Alegre

Resumo

There are many complexity elements in a place branding project. Among those are the conceptualization of a brand that expresses the local identity, the consensus among stakeholders, and the participation of residents. Nevertheless, designers master a set of skills to deal with complex problems. This paper aims to show, from the case study of the city of Porto Alegre (Brazil), how design can activate the collective participation of stakeholders and residents in a place branding process. The project ‘O que marca Porto Alegre?’ arose from a Rio Grande do Sul regional initiative, from the Associação Brasileira das Empresas de Design — ABEDESIGN-RS [Brazilian Association of Design Companies], with the aim of constructing a local brand that would recover the citizens’ pride and bring action guidelines to Porto Alegre. The proposal emerged from three principles: voluntary protagonism, collective authorship, and communal property. It had the participation of the municipality, academia, business and civil society and it mobilized over 40 design studios, organized in six teams around a collective creation. As a result, by means of co-creation, a project was developed integrating multidisciplinary teams, stakeholders, and citizens around a common goal.

Keywords: place branding, co-creation, stakeholders, design, identity