Mayor Gregor Robertson in Vancouver November 21, 2011.
From his vantage point in Singapore, Hsing Cheng knows only two things about Vancouver.
It's highly ranked as a livable place. And it's got a culture that welcomes immigrants.
"Business is not the first thing that comes to my mind," said Mr. Cheng, an expert on city-branding at Singapore's Centre for Liveable Cities.
That perception is exactly why Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vancouver Economic Development Commission have thrown themselves into a splashy, hugely hyped two-day convention this week called Cities Summit, where Mr. Cheng will talk about how cities can change their brands.
Mr. Robertson and company want to alter the world's image of Vancouver as just a place with great mountains, glass condos and a multicultural feel.
"The people of Vancouver turned this city into a centre of expertise, excellence and economic success around urban sustainability," said the mayor – currently one of Vancouver's key brand images, with his aura of bike-riding and organic-juice entrepreneurialism – told 400-something attendees as he opened the conference Tuesday morning. "We want this to be the place people think of when they want to know where to find the best ideas, the leading companies, and the smartest investment opportunities."
Ostensibly, the Cities Summit is about incorporating high-tech innovations into cities' operations, about fostering urban sustainability, and about smart cities networking to learn from each other's successes.
Those topics are all in the printed program for the convention, which is also functioning as a vehicle for the two founding sponsors, IBM and Shaw, to promote their products to a captive audience of politicians and city managers. (Thanks to those sponsorships and more, the convention is "revenue neutral" for the commission.)
But the biggest goal of the convention is to sell Vancouver as a place to do business, especially in the emerging clean-tech and high-tech fields that Mr. Robertson talks about constantly. And especially in a world where, in the eyes of economists, it's cities that compete, not nations.
The Vancouver brand already helps a number of local architects, planners, engineers, landscape designers and others sell their services elsewhere in the world to those wanting to latch onto its reputation for livability, good urban design, green buildings and a knack for blending pleasant architecture with lush natural landscapes.
But Mr. Robertson wants the world to come to Vancouver as well to tap into its unique and expert culture of high-tech businesses. In that, he's following the lead of former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt, who started beating the drum 10 years ago about how Vancouver should market itself internationally as the city of environment-oriented businesses.
But can a city actually get the world – a slow-moving creature that's already in information overload – to adjust its perception?
Mr. Cheng firmly believes so. Coming from Singapore, he should know.
"In the 80s and 90s, we were known for two things: the banning of chewing gum and the caning of an American teenager for vandalism," he said. "We were seen as clinical, boring, authoritarian." Especially compared to Hong Kong, viewed as the hopping, energetic, more-fun city.
Now, thanks to changes inside and outside Singapore, that image has changed. It survived the economic recession better than others, so its management control is now viewed as an asset. The city-state also invited bidders from around the globe to set up a destination resort and casino, plus it opened up immigration. Both helped transform its image to one that was more sophisticated.
But, Mr. Cheng warned, branding can't be just about image or people will quickly discover the reality doesn't match. It has to be the outcome of fundamental changes to the way a city or company conducts itself.
That will be Mr. Robertson's challenge as he invites the world to do business here.
Frances Bula