Imaginative Construction of a Global City as a Strategy for the Growth of Knowledge-based Economies: A Critical Evaluation of the Place-marketing in Singapore

세계도시 이미지 형성과 지식기반경제 육성 전략: 싱가포르의 장소마케팅에 대한 비판적 고찰

  • Park, Bae-Gyoon (Department of Geography Education, Seoul National University)
  • 박배균 (서울대학교 지리교육과)
  • Published : 2007.06.30

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the ways in which the Singaporean government has promoted the "global city" imaging strategy as a means for marketing Singapore. Since the 1990s, Singapore has pursued a place-marketing strategy that aims at imaging itself as a "creative", "culturally vibrant" and "cosmopolitan" global city by utilizing various cultural, tourist and spatial policy measures. It argues that the Singaporean government has promoted this particular imaging strategy under a broader economic resoucturing program, aiming at transforming the Singapore's economy into a "knowledge-driven" one, under which the attraction of international knowledge workers is seen as crucial for the competitiveness and innovation. This paper also discusses the limitations of this strategy, focusing on growing tensions between the global and the local in the Singaporean society and the ways in which the authoritarian and top-down nature of governance have restricted the genuine development of the "culturally vibrant" environment in Singapore.

이 논문은 싱가포르 정부가 어떻게 싱가포르의 장소마케팅을 위한 수단으로 "세계도시" 이미지 전략을 사용하는가를 탐구하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 1990년대부터 싱가포르는 그 자신을 "창조적이고", "문화적으로 활기차며", "코스모폴리탄"한 세계도시라고 이미지화하기 위한 장소마케팅 전략을 추진해 왔고, 이를 위해 여러 다양한 문화, 관광, 공간 정책수단들을 사용하였다. 이 논문에서 필자는 싱가포르 정부의 이러한 이미지화 전략은 싱가포르 경제를 지식기반 경제로 전환하려는 경제재편 프로그램과 밀접히 관련되며, 이는 장소마케팅을 통해 국제적인 지식 노동자들을 끌어들이는 것이 경쟁력과 혁신을 이끌어내는데 핵심적이라는 믿음에 기인한다. 이와 더불어 이 논문은 이러한 이미지 전략의 한계에 대해서도 논하는데, 특히 싱가포르 사회에서 어떻게 글로발과 로칼 간의 긴장이 증가하고 있는지, 그리고 어떻게 싱가포르의 권위적이고 하향식의 통치체제로 인해 진정한 의미의 "문화적으로 활기한" 환경을 조성하는데 제약이 생기는지 살펴볼 것이다.

Keywords

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