Titled Living Cities, Liveable Spaces: Placemaking & Identity, the 2017 edition of the Valletta 2018 international conference seeks to discuss and analyse the impact of rebranding policies and strategies on cities and the community members who inhabit or interact with these cities.

Taking cue from Valletta’s run-up to the title of ECoC in 2018, this conference analyses the effects of such branding and repositioning strategies by exploring research, policy and practical examples carried out by different researchers, academics, policy makers and cultural practitioners, and by combining policy and strategic aspects with practical, on-the-ground perspectives.

Living Cities, Liveable Spaces: Placemaking & Identity explores the interplay between cultural diplomacy, place branding and liveability, particularly in light of large public events such as the European Capital of Culture. These issues will be debated within the context of citizen engagement and sustainable city development.

Four themes will be discussed in this year’s edition, namely Creative Diplomacy, Branding a liveable city, Challenging times and Future Cities.

Speakers inlude: Prof Dr Sebastian Olma (author & critic), Dr Marie Briguglio (economist & academic), Juan Carlos Belloso (CEO Future Places), Bjorn Vassallo (FIFA), Mikael Mohamed (head of International Relations, Muceum), Jaakko Blomberg (urban activist), Dr Victor Jacono (theatre artist & educator), Dr Michael Gerace (co-founder Bar Europa) and Dr Tricia Austin (design consultant & academic).

 

Registration is currently open. To book your spot, kindly follow this link.

For further information visit conference.valletta2018.org