ABSTRACT
Urban studies have a strong connection with films. Many scholars have analysed the relationships between specific cities and their role in films, questioning which meanings are assumed by specific urban settings in the development of the storyline, how they contribute to the atmosphere characterising a movie and what kind of image of the city is forged by movies. The discussion on the different and always partial and subjective ways in which it is possible to know and to represent cities may be easily linked to debates on the social construction of the idea of cosmopolitanism in the global urban scenario. Urban branding, however, is not only a discursive practice aimed at producing optimistic representations. It also develops in strict relation with other policies and activities aimed at assuring a supposedly good and sustainable competitive position to a city. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in this book.
