FROM CONJUNCTURAL URBAN STORYTELLING TO CITY BRANDING: AN EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR BUCHAREST

Academic literature, both socio-human and economic profile, approached pretty much the subject of the city brand, usually in the broader context of analysis concerning national and local brands. Despite various theoretical paradigms proposed to identify the most appropriate theoretical modeling frameworks, the city branding remains, at least in Romania, a fact unsupported in a structured and continuous way, often with disparate initiatives, conducted by various economic and social actors, but not organized into a coherent strategy with medium and long term projects. However, the success of several projects focused on emotional approach in recent years concentrated on the rediscovery of past and present stories of the Romanian capital, lead us to believe that the city brand built through stories has a real potential. Thus, in this paper, we propose an exploratory analysis of the potential of storytelling technique in building the city brand, by customizing an empirical model for Bucharest.