Place promotion in Shanghai, PRC

Place promotion is a key theme of urban governance in postfordist cities. Recent research shows that cities in Eastern European countries have seen similar changes. The trajectory of the transformation, however, varies from city to city. This paper illustrates the practice of place promotion in Shanghai. The research has drawn materials from the Internet to show how Shanghai has been depicted as a booming international city. Moreover, it has been shown that the promotional materials target overseas developers and facilitate the commodification of place, New technology has offered an opportunity for "innovative" urban management. Behind the technological dimension of place promotion are a wide range of preferential policies that provide economic incentives to investors and a strong state-supported development push. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.