Introduction

Discussion in this chapter aims to clarify a special aspect of globalisation, the increased fluidity in economic life, which urges local governments to reconsider the premises of their economic development policy. One new direction in this respect is emerging ‘flow paradigm’, which provides conceptual tools to understand the current economic reality and its dynamics. Ability to attract global flows depends less and less on hard factors of production and more and more on collective symbolic capital. Hence, the relevance of city branding in global competition between cities. Such observations boil down to the idea of new urban management that focuses on attracting flows of values, such as capital, technological know-how, innovative firms, creative people and tourism consumption, to branded hubs in order to guarantee their wealth and economic resilience.