London has Fallen: A Case Study on Global City Branding, Terrorism and Crisis Communication

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/8s45q920x

Abstract

The year of 2017 brought challenges to London in the form of the four terror attacks that occurred throughout the year, negatively affecting London’s image and industries while creating a precarious environment for crisis management. The purpose of this project was to closely examine the effects of terrorism on London’s place brand and how London’s key actors and organizations responded to the unusual year of terror attacks. The #LondonisOpen for summer campaign represented both the impact of the terror attacks on tourism and the need to address terrorism in a strategic way. Additionally, key actors such as Prime Minister Theresa May and Mayor Sadiq Khan’s discourse responding to various attacks communicated key conceptual counterterrorism mechanisms and evolved as the attacks continued. Changes in counterterrorism policy and guidelines also reflect the importance of safety and preparedness as key themes in the rhetoric surrounding and response to terrorism in a major global city. Data sets from the city of London and outside consulting groups were examined to understand the effect of terrorism on London and London’s place brand. This study’s implications for place branding as an academic discipline are explored further in the applications of previous research to this unique case and provide insight into the relationship between terrorism and the global city.

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