A Narrative Understanding of an Entrepreneurial City: The Case of Tilburg

Abstract

Over the last few decades cities are increasingly redefined as subjects of interurban competition. In this neoliberal perspective cities are seen as products that have to be `sold' to possible investors, visitors and inhabitants. Yet, such products appear to have become too much detached from `daily' social urban life, which has resulted in a call for a more inclusive reconceptualisation of urban identity. This chapter will respond to this call by employing Margaret Somers' (1994) notion of narrative identities. In Somers' view, narrative identities spring from the way people locate themselves and their environment within in a set of emplotted stories. Stories become emplotted through pointing out significant issues and clues bearing on compositions of people, phenomena and events. Struggles over identities manifest themselves as competition over narration. Different groups may tell different stories, and articulate different plots about what a city is and where it goes. As a consequence, cities host a repertoire of stories, with plots that will generally centre on key issues believed to affect the city. City-marketing strategies draw on this repertoire, selecting and polishing those elements that serve the promotional aims pursued. It is in the selection of elements and their emplotment that a more inclusive strategy can be sought.