Territorial reputation beyond state borders? Metropolitan Images in European borderlands.

Most places in Europe are branded to attract residents, investors and/or tourists. Some European cities situated along state borders have recently developed a transfrontier metropolitan branding strategy. They consequently have to represent a territory that overlaps state boundaries. However, do these representations of dynamic space deny the existence of nation-state borders? Do they support a new territorial closure? This article, based on the analysis of a series of branding products defined in four cross-border metropolitan areas, will explore the content of urban reputation in European borderlands. It is hypothesised that policymakers in these areas re-invest into state boundaries and generate a reticular cross-border territoriality.