Throwback: City of Sharjah — A Decade On… City Branding in the Middle East
When they say the internet never forgets, take it seriously! I just got another GoogleScholar alert this morning of 18 September 2024, and that triggered this post on an article I had almost forgotten all about, “City brand challenge 101: Sharjah in a globalised UAE context” published way back in 2013.
In that article, I sought “to make a business case for Sharjah, the third largest of the seven city-states that constitute the United Arab Emirates (UAE).” My co-author and I undertook an exploratory enquiry into the ‘place marketing’ effort of this little known geographical entity relying extensively on secondary data — notably the official website of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, media sources, a selection of place branding literature.
More importantly, we drew upon our own personal observations and lived experiences in the emirate. Our central proposition was that Sharjah needed to start being viewed in a similar vein as its more populous sibling, Dubai.
We argued that the City of Sharjah’s modest branding efforts needs to become more robust, especially in the light of its acclaimed status as the ‘cultural capital’ of the UAE, with its rich array of cultural and traditional edifices (including several museums of archaeology, and natural history and science, heritage, Islamic art) among others.
Key edifices included the Buhaira Corniche, Khalid Lagoon, Al Khan Beach, Al Wasba (Eye of the Emirates), and the Central Souk among others.
