# Introduction he city marketing is an area that has been practiced since the 19 th century (Kavaratzis, 2004), however it's a discipline that has a huge lack of academic researches. Its origin stem from social and nonprofit marketing (Kotler & Levy 1969;Koter & Zaltman, 1971) and it has been practiced for many centuries for the development and promotion of places, cities, and nations (Kavaratzis & Ashwoth, 2008). Throughout the time, the terminology has been developed, and many concepts were introduced to vary the understanding. Therefore the field progressed from the initial "place selling" approach to the use of integrated marketing and branding techniques (Ashworth & Voodg, 1990, 1994;Kotler et al. 1993Kotler et al. , 1999; van den berg & Braun, 1999;Rainisto, 2003;Gertner, 2011). Usually, when we talk about city marketing or any of the similar concepts, we extend our understanding to the urban areas: those maybe cities, town, regions, territories. Along this article, we will see the literature reviews of those concepts in the aim to understand from where it comes and where are we going. # II. # Literature Review of the Concept City marketing is a field that mixes between a multiple disciplines. This interdisciplinary nature led to confusion between the academics and the practitioners. However, the concept has developed and left some cities wondering on how cities as a brand could be designed and managed (Marrilees et al, 2012). The aim of these concepts is to increase the investment and tourism by development the community by reinforcing local identity and activating social forces (Kavaratzis, 2007). The interest of the field, globally, is to improve the competitive image of deprived places can help to the development of an empirical framework which can make a significant step towards theory making (Niedomysl & Jonasson, 2012). City marketing is a complex field which gathers a multiple academic disciplines: geography, urban planning, economic development, tourism, etc (Berglund & Olsson, 2010). This mixture of all the discipline doesn't let a clear understand of the concept (Niedomysl & Jonasson, 2012). The same confusion is there, when we talk about specific journals for publication: place marketing can be interchangeable to "place branding", "urban marketing", "city marketing", "territorial marketing" and vice versa (Skinner, 2008). Even though, cities use branding as an instrument to define themselves and achieve attractive positions and positive perceptions of the mind of key audiences (Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2009). Often, city marketing is defined as a management process (Kolter et al, 1999;Rainisto, 2003) which encompasses the attempts of the place differentiation for competitive advantage over other places. City branding has been defined as the "purpose symbolic embodiment of all information connected to a city in order to create association around it" (Lucarelli & Berg, 2011). One wide world reason is that cities in all over the planet engage themselves in marketing and branding efforts, in order to stay competitive and relevant on the global market . Another definition of the place marketing concept can be used, which says: "the measures taken, by actors appointed to govern a place, to improve the competitive image of that place with explicit aim of attracting capital from elsewhere" (Niedomysl & Jonasson, 2012). The marketing of urban places are practiced since the 19 th century (Kavaratzis, 2004). There is a need to identify the real history of all those concepts, in order a) Meta-analisis The real stage where the city marketing occurs now is still in the very beginning level, due to the number of researches that were done in this area. Despite this, the reality says something else: the biggest cities in the world began to interest, and even to practice some theories about the field, such as, territorial communication, encouraging some activities to take place: (Investments, Olympic sports, cultural events?), in order to be known on a national and an international level. Hence, an increasing number of cities and regions around the world began to establish some logos and brands for their cities: 'I Love New York'; 'I Am Amsterdam'; 'Be Brussels'; 'Be Berlin'; cOPENhagen (Open for you)'; 'Lond-On';? however these decision have been taken from 1977, therefore, the city marketing appeared as a field and area. Although, the academic researchers are not well completed and full in this area, and even the cities find they practicing some of the key. City branding has been defined as the 'purposeful symbolic embodiment of all information connected to a city in order to create associations around it' (Lucarelli & Berg, 2011, p. 21). It can be used as a strategic tool to provide cities with a source of economic, political and cultural value (Kavaratzis, In other words, cities use branding as an instrument to define themselves and achieve attractive positions and positive perceptions in the minds of key audiences (Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2009). This article then presents as originality: the history of city marketing through the JCR impact journals and try to give a summary to this area and relatively young and new field that begins to grow and the receive importance to metropolises , major cities in the country that developed countries, and to developing countries. # III. # Research Methodology The field of city marketing and similar concepts has known a very important stage of advancements and contribution from a lot of articles and researches that was done by different authors from different part of the world. Today, in this article, we are going to analyze the different articles that talk about city marketing or similar concepts, published in JCR journals of impact. Exploring this research will give us some answers in order to know the history of the concept city marketing academically through the articles published in JCR journals. Place marketing's validity as an academic field of knowledge is under threat (Gertner, 2011). # a) Contribution to knowledge City marketing and similar concepts that are the focus of this study is a new field that is underresearched topic. The aim of this study is to help to understand the history and the beginning of this concept and where we are now in front of this study. # Year of publication According to the statistics that we have realized, we notice that the beginning of the research of place marketing and similar concepts began in 1993, under the Journal Citations Reports in social sciences of 2015. The first journals published some articles and papers about city marketing with 2%, this proportion was growing up till reaching 18% in 2015. Through the years, we have seen that the peaks of the publications in the Journal Citation Reports are: 1999 with 5%, 2007 with 7%, 2010, has been increasing till 11%, and 16% in 2013, and then stagnated in 18% in 2015. According to the research that we've done, we can forward that the case study that was chosen in the majority of the papers was Beijing with 8%. In second place, there were many cities that were chosen in the empiric part of the articles such as: Hong Kong, Turin, Shanghai, Berlin, and Rio de Janeiro. This means that the majority of the papers choose the city of Beijing, its role in the world, as a strong city that found the right way to make it know with City marketing and similar concepts in order to be good economically and touristically. # Case study by Countries Concerning the countries of the case study of the articles that we've studied, we can say that the majority of the articles were talking about different cities in the same country which concludes that, China is on the top of the list with 20% then Germany and Australia with 10%, and then Italy, UK and South Korea with 7%. As we have seen, China is one of the most important countries found at the empiric part of the papers that we have studied, in the second place we find Germany, as a strong country in different areas and especially. # Place marketing 36% City marketing 20% # Keywords From all the research that was done from 1993 till 2015, the keyword very used is "Place marketing" with 36%, then we find City branding with 24%, and then 20% dedicated to "City marketing". The main useful keyword is Place marketing referring to the place that has know a strategy of marketing in order to have a better future, than the city branding, referring to the importance of the brand in a city or a territory that makes it easier for the tourists and visitors to remember it, and the city marketing, that is referring to the marketing used to the cities. The authors that wrote the articles from 1993 till 2015 about city marketing and similar concepts are from: UK with 9%, then USA with 6%, 5% is common between China and Australia,, then we find Italy with 4%, and finally, Germany and Netherlands with 3%. V. # Conclusion This study has explored the articles that were published in JCR journals and revues. In this sense, the articles published between 1996 ans 2015 were analyzed, even tough, the study is not definitive. It only helps to summarize and interpret, analyzing the item that was choosen in this work. The main result that we have noticed is that, the cities that are discussed at the study empirical part has to do with two continents: in one hand, Asia, in order words China because most of the articles talk about Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, China's cities. In other hand, the articles talk about a very strong country in Europe which is Germany: Berlin, Munich, Hamburg. The city branding is definied as a demand oriented approach. (Oguztimur, Akturan, 2015). The city marketing, literature is under construction and development. Most of the studies are derived from marketing and management (Kavaratzis, 2004(Kavaratzis, , 2007) ) and brand management (Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2009). Therefore, excluded the articles that were published elsewhere, and the books that are talking about the same fields, conferences proceeding, articles that are not available electronically. The city marketing field and its similar concepts needs a considerable research contributed b practionners. Through the entire article, the study has explored different articles mostly in English that was published in many revues of impact: "JCR" that talked This study has some limitations. The main limitation of this article is that, the study explored the literature just from JCR journals from Urban Studies Area and the research was done with these keywords: Place Marketing, City Marketing, City Branding, Place Branding, Branding cities, Marketing places, Place promotion, Urban branding. about city marketing, city branding, place marketing, territorial marketing. This study leads to analyze and interpret all the results that were shown in order to summarize the real history of this field that was shown and published academically. The study has shown that, the earliest article about these keywords was academically published in 1996. The study analyzes the articles per years, revues, the university and the case study "place". ![](image-2.png "") ![](image-3.png "") ![](image-4.png "") ![](image-5.png "") 1This study examines the perceivedsatisfaction of foreign visitors whohave visited at least one Koreanmetropolitan city through aquestionnaire survey and suggestssome policies for making a city moreattractiveExamining the relationship betweenhallmark events and threecharacteristics of the post-moderncity: the importance of marketingplaces.Dong-AUniversitySouth KoreaUniversity ofWollongongAustraliaBusan citySouth KoreaSydneyAustraliaStill BaySouth Africa1.3550.909International visitorssatisfaction withPusan cityand its implicationsfor city marketingPlaying Games withSydney: MarketingSydneyfor the 2000OlympicsPlace marketing,tourism promotionand communitybased localeconomicdevelopment inpost-apartheidSouth AfricaThe Case of StillBay-The"Bay of SleepingBeauty"Hai Sik Sohn& Cheol ParkEtienne Nel ;Tony BinnsUrbangeographyUrbanstudiesJournal ofurban affairs19992002PlacemarketingPlacemarketing © 2017 Global Journals Inc. (US) ( ) 2017 © 2017 Global Journals Inc. (US) 1 © 2017 Global Journals Inc. (US) 1 ## Journal of publication From 1993 till 2015, there was several and various publications that was done in many journals, and the most common in publications of the papers according to place marketing and city branding field, we can say that the "Urban Studies" with 13%, then "Journal of Planning Literature" with 18%, and finally 33% with the journal: "Cities". This means that impact factor of the journals of publication has a great and a very important role at the acceptance of the papers of quality. * City Branding as a Response to Global Intercity Competition AVAnttiroiko Growth and Change 2014 * Selling the city: marketing approaches in public sector urban planning GJAshworth HVoogd 1990 Belhaven Press * Marketing and place promotion. Place promotion: the use of publicity and marketing to sell towns and regions GJAshworth HVoogd 1994 * Beyond the logo: Brand management for cities GAshworth MKavaratzis Journal of Brand Management 16 8 2009 * But we also have watercolors, acrylics & pastels": Media strategies for marketing small cities and towns in Texas EAvraham DDaugherty Cities 26 6 2009 We're known for oil * But we also have watercolors, acrylics & pastels": Media strategies for marketing small cities and towns in Texas EAvraham DDaugherty Cities 26 6 2009 We're known for oil * Rethinking place marketing-a literature review EBerglund KOlsson Proceedings of the European Congress of the Regional Science Association the European Congress of the Regional Science Association 2010. August 50 * Key success factors in city marketing-some empirical evidence CBornemeyer RDecker 2003 Springer Berlin Heidelberg * Tourism marketing images of industrial cities BBramwell LRawding Annals of Tourism research 23 1 1996 * Tourism marketing images of industrial cities BBramwell LRawding Annals of Tourism research 23 1 1996 * The effectiveness of place brand communication EBraun JEshuis EHKlijn Cities 41 2014 * The effectiveness of place brand communication EBraun JEshuis EHKlijn Cities 41 2014 * Do cities have broad shoulders? Does Motown need a haircut? On urban branding and the personification of place SBrown ACampelo Journal of Macro marketing 34 4 2014 * Improving competitiveness through city marketing in Spanish hotels CegarraNavarro JGMartinez-Martinez A The Service Industries Journal 31 9 2011 * Public parks in city branding: Perceptions of visitors vis-à-vis residents in Hong Kong CSChan MPeters LMMarafa Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 14 4 2015 * Pushing the urban frontier: temporary uses of space, city marketing, and the creative city discourse in 2000s Berlin CColomb Journal of urban affairs 34 2 2012 * Pushing the urban frontier: temporary uses of space, city marketing, and the creative city discourse in 2000s Berlin CColomb Journal of urban affairs 34 2 2012 * CDinardi Cities for sale: Contesting city branding and cultural policies in Buenos Aires. Urban Studies 2015 0042098015604079 * Study on the Mechanism of Value Increment During City Marketing JPDong YLDing The 19th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management 2013. January * Promoting Swedish countryside in the Netherlands: International rural place marketing to attract new residents MEimermann European Urban and Regional Studies 0969776413481370 2013 * City make-overs: The place marketing of melbourne during the kennett years, 1992-99 BEngels Urban Policy and Research 18 4 2000 * Place marketing as governance strategy: An assessment of obstacles in place marketing and their effects on attracting target groups JEshuis EBraun EHKlijn Public Administration Review 73 3 2013 * Place marketing as governance strategy: An assessment of obstacles in place marketing and their effects on attracting target groups JEshuis EBraun EHKlijn Public Administration Review 73 3 2013 * Place marketing and citizen participation: branding as strategy to address the emotional dimension of policy making JEshuis EHKlijn EBraun International Review of Administrative Sciences 80 1 2014 * Sentiment Analysis and City Branding RGrandi FNeri New Trends in Databases and Information Systems Springer International Publishing 2014 * Thin line between country, city, and region branding RHerste In Journal of Vacation Marketing 18 2 2012 * Creative cities in Europe GJHospers Intereconomics 38 5 2003 * Lynch, Urry and city marketing: Taking advantage of the city as a built and graphic image GJHospers 2009 Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 5 * Lynch's The Image of the City after 50 Years: City Marketing Lessons from an Urban Planning Classic GJHospers 2010 * Lynch's The Image of the City after 50 Years: City Marketing Lessons from an Urban Planning Classic GJHospers 2010 * Making sense of place: from cold to warm city marketing GJHospers Journal of Place Management and Development 3 3 2010 * The image of the waterfront in Rio de Janeiro urbanism and social representation of reality NIwata VDel Rio Journal of Planning Education and Research 24 2 2004 * PLACE BRANDING GOES TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD: THE CASE OF PSEUDO-SWEDISH ANDERSONVILLE OJohansson MCornebise Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 92 3 2010 * From city marketing to city branding: Towards a theoretical framework for developing city brands MKavaratzis Place branding 1 1 2004 * City marketing: the past, the present and some unresolved issues MKavaratzis Geography compass 1 3 2007 * Place marketing: how did we get here and where are we going? MKavaratzis GAshworth Journal of Place Management and Development 1 2 2008 * City branding: an effective assertion of identity or a transitory marketing trick MKavaratzis GJAshworth Tijdschrift voor economis cheen sociale geografie 2005 96 506 * City branding: an effective assertion of identity or a transitory marketing trick MKavaratzis GJAshworth Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 2005 96 506 * Partners in coffeeshops, canals and commerce: Marketing the city of Amsterdam MKavaratzis GJAshworth Cities 24 1 2007 * Partners in coffeeshops, canals and commerce: Marketing the city of Amsterdam MKavaratzis GJAshworth Cities 24 1 2007 * Partners in coffeeshops, canals and commerce: Marketing the city of Amsterdam MKavaratzis GJAshworth Cities 24 1 2007 * The dynamics of place brands an identity-based approach to place branding theory MKavaratzis MJHatch Marketing Theory 2013 13 * Place promotion and symbolic characterization of new Songdo City CKim Cities 27 1 2010 South Korea * Place promotion and symbolic characterization of new Songdo City CKim Cities 27 1 2010 South Korea * Broadening the concept of marketing PKotler SJLevy The Journal of Marketing 1969 * Social marketing: an approach to planned social change PKotler GZaltman The Journal of Marketing 1971 * Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology KKrippendorff 2012 Sage * Identifying the role of cognitive, affective, and behavioral components in understanding residents' attitudes toward place marketing JKwon CAVogt Journal of Travel Research 49 4 2010 * A rhetorical study of in-flight real estate advertisements as a potential site of ethical transformation in Chinese cities GLawson Cities 31 2013 * A rhetorical study of in-flight real estate advertisements as a potential site of ethical transformation in Chinese cities GLawson Cities 31 2013 * City branding: a state-of-the-art review of the research domain ALucarelli PBerg Journal of place management and development 4 1 2011 * Urban scaling-up and endogenous development promoted by continuous city marketing: A case study of Xuyi County ZLuo XWang JZhang YHu China. Planning Theory 12 4 2013 * Destruction or construction? A (counter) branding analysis of sport mega-events in Rio de Janeiro AMaiello CPasquinelli Cities 48 2015 * Destruction or construction? A (counter) branding analysis of sport mega-events in Rio de Janeiro AMaiello CPasquinelli Cities 48 2015 * Multiple stakeholders and multiple city brand meanings BMerrilees DMiller CHerington European Journal of Marketing 46 7/8 2012 * Place Marketing, Tourism Promotion, and Community based Local Economic Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa The Case of Still Bay-The "Bay of Sleeping Beauty ENel TBinns Urban Affairs Review 38 2 2002 * Towards a theory of place marketing TNiedomysl MJonasson Journal of Place Management and Development 5 3 2012 * Struggling for the right to the (creative) city in Berlin and Hamburg: new urban social movements, new 'spaces of hope'? JNovy CColomb International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37 5 2013 * Public consultation and placemarketing in the revitalisation of the Port Adelaide waterfront SOakley Urban Policy and Research 25 1 2007 * Synthesis of City Branding Literature (1988-2014) as a Research Domain SOguztimur UAkturan International Journal of Tourism Research 2015 * Cultural urban branding and creative cities: A theoretical framework for promoting creativity in the public spaces HOkano DSamson Cities 27 2010 * Cultural urban branding and creative cities: A theoretical framework for promoting creativity in the public spaces HOkano DSamson Cities 27 2010 * City marketing, image reconstruction and urban regeneration. Urban studies RPaddison 1993 30 * Place marketing and town centre management: A new tool for urban revitalization SJPage RHardyman Cities 13 3 1996 * Marketing the Chinese dream home: gated communities and representations of the good life in (post-) socialist Shanghai CPPow LKong Urban Geography 28 2 2007 * Renewing a historical legacy: Tourism, leisure shopping and urban branding in Paris CRabbiosi Cities 42 2015 * Renewing a historical legacy: Tourism, leisure shopping and urban branding in Paris CRabbiosi Cities 42 2015 * Success factors of place marketing: A study of place marketing practices in Northern Europe and the United States SKRainisto 2003 Helsinki University of Technology * Metodología para la investigación en marketing y dirección de empresas FJ SSánchez 1999 * Understanding cities through city brands: City branding as a social and semantic network HESevin Cities 38 2014 * The emergence and development of place marketing's confused identity HSkinner Journal of marketing management 24 9 2008 * International visitors' satisfaction with Pusan city and its implications for city marketing HSSohn CPark Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research 4 1 1999 * Culture and authenticity in urban regeneration processes: Place branding in central Barcelona JRUlldemolins Urban Studies 0042098013515762 2014 * City marketing: a multiattribute approach BVan Limburg Tourism management 19 5 1998 * The image of the creative city: Some reflections on urban branding in Turin AVanolo Cities 25 6 2008 * The image of the creative city: Some reflections on urban branding in Turin AVanolo Cities 25 6 2008 * The image of the creative city, eight years later: Turin, urban branding and the economic crisis taboo AVanolo Cities 46 2015 * The image of the creative city, eight years later: Turin, urban branding and the economic crisis taboo AVanolo Cities 46 2015 * Playing games with Sydney: marketing Sydney for the GWaitt Olympics. Urban Studies 36 7 1999. 2000 * Towards a service-dominant place marketing logic. Marketing Theory GWarnaby 2009 9 * What about the 'place 'in place marketing GMedway D Marketing Theory 2013 13 * Gated and packaged suburbia: Packaging and branding Chinese suburban residential development FWu Cities 27 5 2010 * Gated and packaged suburbia: Packaging and branding Chinese suburban residential development FWu Cities 27 5 2010 * A Practical Approach of Hierarchy Process Analysis in Modeling MICE City Brand Attributes System SYe XLi Advances in Applied Economics, Business and Development Berlin Heidelberg Springer 2011 * Bridging the gap: An exploration of how DMO managers use education to overcome challenges SMZavattaro FGAdams Urban Studies 0042098014568069 2015 * Putting a price tag on cities: Insights into the competitive environment of places SZenker FEggers MFarsky Cities 30 2013 * Putting a price tag on cities: Insights into the competitive environment of places SZenker FEggers MFarsky Cities 30 2013 * Using polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology to make a stronger case for value congruence in place marketing SZenker TGollan NQuaquebeke Psychology & Marketing 31 3 2014 * City branding and the Olympic effect: A case study of Beijing LZhang SXZhao Cities 26 5 2009 * City branding and the Olympic effect: A case study of Beijing LZhang SXZhao Cities 26 5 2009 * China's leading historical and cultural city': Branding Dali City through publicprivate partnerships in Bai architecture revitalization YZhao Cities 49 2015 * Social media: A new vehicle for city marketing in China LZhou TWang Cities 37 2014