Image selection and the marketing of downtown areas in London and New York

This study explored the processes and influences that helped determine the promotional imagery employed by a number of urban regeneration partnerships in London and New York. Although the degrees of ethnic and cultural diversity in the districts considered were broadly comparable, such diversity was given greater prominence in New York than in London. Partnerships that depended heavily on wider governmental economic development agencies selected promotional imagery that focused solely on attracting business investment, without mention of the ethnic/cultural heterogeneity of the area concerned. Marketing was seen as an important and valuable activity, but was generally regarded as an operational rather than a strategic function.