Development of a Methodology for Measuring the Residents’ Utility Within Place Marketing

How much participation does residents take part in place branding? Residents integration in creating attractive living areas Example: Vancouver Neighborhood Integrated Service Team 200 staff within 16 teams including residents solved together problems with noise, garbage, buildings. Contribution to the place development (tax payment, labor force) Ambassadors of traditions, beliefs, knowledge, history, lifestyles How much participation does residents take part in place branding? What are the most significant place attractiveness attributes ? What is the residents’ “utility” and how it can be measured? Residents as the object of place marketing/key target group (Kotler) Growth of competition between cities in order to attract valuable residents.

Theoretical approaches to assessment of the place attractiveness Service dominant logic Residential satisfaction theory Place attachment theory Residential choice models Place as a set of services focused on meeting people’s satisfaction, where residents are the creators of these services. Understanding of people’s satisfaction with goods/services will help to improve the quality.

Residential satisfaction attributes Personal characteristics External environment Site features Social networks Sociodemographic data Income Personal views (comparing the current and ideal environment) Urban development Comfort for hearing Landscape Cleanliness of the streets Presence of hospitals, schools Comfort at home, security housing quality Social climate Friends Neighbors Acquaintances

Place attachment model Attachment (affect) - emotional link formed by an individual to a physical site (environmental setting) that has been given meaning through interaction. (Maligan, 1998) Raymond, Brown & Weber (2010) Personal context The Northern and Yorke region means a lot to me I am very attached to the Northern and Yorke region I have a lot of fond memories about the Northern and Yorke region The Northern and Yorke region is very special to me I identify strongly with the Northern and Yorke region I feel the Northern and Yorke region is a part of me Personal context Place identity + dependence Community context Neighborhood attachment Belongingness familiarity Natural environment context Connectedness to nature Affinity to nature Nature bonding Social bonding

Models of living choice Making the choice according to the preferences in place attributes, which can be divided into accessible and attractive. The availability of the workplaces is the decision making basis choosing the place of living is nominal, people choose the workplace first. The model doesn’t take into account different population groups. Place attributes classification: Well-developed infrastructure Heritage of history Favorable social environment Leisure opportunities Stability of political and economical situation The brand

Understanding the “residents’ utility”: different approaches Industrial sector Creative class People with such professions as computer technologies, social sciences, education, art, design, theatre are capable to create ‘meaningful new forms’ and thus have the most positive effect on the place development. (Florida’s approach 2007) Important but not always true in practice. Example of Russian regions with developed oil industry, which aren’t interested in attraction of oil refining industry workers.

Understanding and measuring residents’ utility: demarketing approach (Freire 2009) The more friendly local people are the more positive effect it will have on the places’ development, as external stakeholders will make a choice in favor of those places, where residents are more amiable, welcoming. Residents’ utility = level of place friendliness Place attractiveness factor residents’ utility factor

Residents’ utility: approaches Citizen equity approach (Zenker, Martin 2011) Citizens’ value to the place based on predicted future transactions and predicted future costs. The tax revenues of present and potential customers form a place income. These revenues, minus the predicted costs associated with residency=average gross contribution. Criteria of getting the citizenship – one of the residents’ utility (equity) factor

Conclusions In situation of increased competition between cities it’s important to attract the most valuable, creative and mobile residents who will make a distinctive contribution to the city development. The evaluation of residents’ utility can be measured from the following aspects: - industrial&creative class value - demarketing - citizen equity set of requirements for citizenship Usage of theoretical approaches: (residential satisfaction theory, place attachment theory, residential choice model) helps to reveal the emotional bonds and motivations towards the place, perceived by residents. Thus, better define the place attractiveness and its identity, which is essential for building strong branding strategy.