SERVICESCAPES, DESIGNSCAPES, BRANDING, AND THE CREATION OF PLACE-IDENTITY: SOUTH OF LITCHFIELD, CHRISTCHURCH

Place branding lies at the intersection of tourism geography and marketing Contemporary place branding requires the use of hardware, in the form of servicescapes and designscapes that are developed via architecture, design, and heritage; and software, in the form of branding, marketing, and promotion. Both hardware and software are studied in the case of the South of Litchfield development project in Christchurch, New Zealand. The study highlights the way that aesthetic and consumptive practices are used to appeal to specific lifestyle groups. At a meta-theoretical level the study indicates that the study of hegemonic cultural processes needs to be extended beyond that of brands to note the way that design ideas, such as "new urbanism,'' are applied in local contexts. It is concluded that while places use branding and design to differentiate themselves the uncritical adoption of top-down design ideas via real estate and design agents only served to homogenize place and deny authenticity.