Unlocking Urban Tourism Through City Branding: Taking Advantage of Forward Planning in Zimbabwe

1. Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how urban planning plays a critical role in promoting urban tourism through the concept of city branding. Cities across the globe are shaped by various urban planning philosophies and the concept of city branding is emerging as a sophisticated tool for cities to (re) assert themselves in the global economic market. Cities are also concerned with establishing their own images to attract tourists, investors, business people, students and skilled personnel. The study focused on Harare which is currently preparing a city master plan to guide development for the next 15-20 years. However, Harare’s brand, the sunshine city has lost its sparkle due to a plethora of challenges. This paper argues that urban planning possesses the magic to change the image of cities such as Harare and to transform its image towards a more sustainable tourist city image. The study used document analysis and cases from cities in Africa which have created and presented better city images and brands that include, Kigali (Rwanda), Cape Town (South Africa) and Johannesburg (South Africa). It emerges from these cities that city branding is important in boosting urban tourism and creating a city comparative and competitive advantage in the world. The study suggests that forward planning (master planning) is key in promoting urban tourism.

This paper is organised under the following subheadings:

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  Background to the Study: This section provides an overview of the research question and issues surrounding city branding as an urban planning tool in promoting urban tourism;

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  Literature Review and Theoretical Perspectives: The section provides the key concepts and arguments that this paper is based upon;

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  Research Methodology: This section provides a description of how document analysis for the research has been carried out and an explanation of the criteria used in selecting case areas for this study;

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  Cases of City Branding Strategies and Urban Tourism: This section provides cases from selected African cities that include Cape Town, Johannesburg and Kigali on city branding and urban tourism;

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  Results: The results section looks at city branding, urban planning and tourism in Harare and presents results as obtained from the study;

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  Discussion: This section discusses research findings in line with the aim and research question of this paper, which looks at how city branding through urban planning promotes cities to (re) assert themselves in the global economic market;

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  Conclusion and Policy Options: Under this section the major debates and findings of this paper are restated as well as stating recommendations in line with improving the impact of urban planning on urban tourism.

2. Literature Review And Theoretical Perspectives

This paper tries to highlight that urban planning through aspects of forward planning i.e. master planning is a promoter of urban tourism. There is a relationship or interrelationship between urban planning and tourism and it has evolved over time (Shoval, 2018). The focus of this paper has been on Harare which represents a city which function as a capital city for Zimbabwe which was designed and planned to represent the nation to itself and to the whole world for incoming tourists. Resultantly, Harare is endowed with monumental city planning and architecture, with an abundance of cultural institutions responsible for maintaining the city’s brand. However, as a capital city, there is immense population pressure and a growing intensity of developments which are mostly illegal and informal. All these fundamental aspects of developing cities raise social and economic carrying capacity challenges of cities which at times causes cities to loose their images. It is on this background note that urban tourism is negatively affected and an opportunity for urban planning (master planning) is created in uplifting cities to re (assert) themselves in the global economic market.