Identifications of small peripheral towns at the turn of the 21st century : cultural heritage, use of historical examples, and revitalization strategies in comparative perspective
Abstract
The article is exploring the cities' role in the nation-branding and identification processes. It is based on analysis of the development and revival strategies used by small towns placed in regions distant from Capitals, in deep countryside; peripheral in socio-economic sense, and in geographic as well.
The content of their strategies, the outcomes, the impact, their motivation and the context has been analysed. The sources were statistics, periodical press, publicity leaflets, and presentations of all kinds, regional historiography, and observations, which were carried since late 1990'.
These strategies have been explored on the basis of three case studies: Gers in Gascony in the South-West France, Třebíčsko in Vysočina in the Czech Republic, and Dukla in Šariš in Slovakia, bringing Western and East-Central Europe into comparative perspective. As a part of the revival strategy, the small towns have attempted to construct an identity supported by historical examples that locate them within larger - regional, national and supranational - identities.
They have discovered the power of history to brand them. In all three regions also the attempt to reach the registration in the List of World Cultural Heritage (UNESCO) was successful.
They have decided to display their historical and cultural heritage as a marketable value. In this context differences, similarities, analogic situations, and interconnections have been identified between local (urban), regional and national, and supranational identities on the case of Gascony, Gers respectively, which is compared and contrasted to the Czech and Slovak cases.