Attractiveness, branding and governance of regions
Exploring the region to coordinate public policies and ensure its attractiveness.
← Back to courses- CIVIS focus area
- Cities, territories and mobilities
- Open to
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- Master's
- PhD candidates/ students
- PhD candidates/ students
- Field of studies
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- Business and Management
- Social Science and humanities
- Type
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- Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
- Course dates
- 9 October 2025 - 13 February 2026
- Apply by
- 4 May 2025 Apply now
The notions of place and attractiveness have become central to our societies. At an institutional level, places are economically, socially and culturally homogenous entities that transcend political boundaries.
On a more economic level, places are increasingly competing with each other. Not only in terms of tourism and business, but also in terms of residential development. The COVID, for example, has played an important role in terms of residential attractiveness.
The management of these places poses an increasing number of problems to be solved. Firstly, at the political and governance level. New bodies, often involving public and private players, are needed to steer these structures, and public policies must be highly coordinated. For example, issues of mobility and spatial planning (public policies with a spatial impact) must be coordinated to ensure the sustainable development of a region. The same applies to fiscal and energy policies.
Secondly, in terms of strategy, these places must prioritisze the expected developments, whether in terms of maintaining and attracting companies to provide jobs, increasing or controlling tourist activity (overtourism in certain regions) or enhancing residential attractiveness (promoting the place to new residents, strengthening services for the population, etc.).
Finally, depending on the needs and priorities defined by these locations, branding and marketing measures need to be developed and implemented.
Main topics addressed
- Attractiveness and competitiveness of place (mainly cities and regions)
- Marketing and branding of place
- Local governance and stakeholders’ analysis
- Place attractiveness: successes and failures
- Economic, residential and tourist attractiveness
- Principles and targets of place branding and marketing
- Tools for diagnosing and implementing attractiveness strategies
- Assessing the impact of attractiveness strategie
- Cluster analysis and development
- Sustainable economic development strategies
Learning outcomes
The theme (place attractiveness, branding and governance) and the multidisciplinary approach make it possible to pursue five types of learning objectives. By the end of this course, the participants will be able to:
Build reflexivity by questioning one's practices and adapting them to a complex territorial environment (city, region)
- Experimenting with a scientific approach by deploying mixed methods to analysze the attractiveness of a territory
- Mobilise a multi-disciplinary approach (political science, economics, management) to analyse the specificities ofterritorial attractiveness approaches.
- Mobilise tools directly linked to what is being done and observed in practice (concrete implementation from across-functional perspective)
- Mobilise a systemic analysis tool for the sustainable development of a region (Climate Fresco)
| Dates: 9 October 2025 - 13 February 2026 | Total workload: 152 hours |
| Format: Blended | ECTS: 6* |
| Location: Lausanne, Switzerland | Language: English (B2) |
| Contact: martial.pasquier@unil.ch |
*recognition of ECTS depends on your home university
Physical mobility
The physical component of the course is a one-week intensive, hands-on experience held at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Campus Dorigny, School of Public Administration (IDHEAP) between 9 - 13 February 2026.
University of Lausanne's classes' schedule:
Monday :
- morning: Place and regional integration strategies
- afternoon: PDO/IGP presentation and analysis / Visit to the Maison du Gruyère
Tuesday:
- morning: The development of place attractiveness strategies
- afternoon: The example of a metropolis: Ghent
Wednesday:
- morning: Place and economic integration strategies (the cluster approach)
- afternoon: Lausanne and sport / Presentation of the Vaud/Lausanne strategy / Visit to an international sports organization (UEFA Nyon)
Thursday:
- morning: Place and residential integration strategies
- afternoon: Presentation of a concrete example: Bretagne
Friday:
- morning: Place and sustainable integration strategies (application of the fresco of the ecological renaissance)
- afternoon: Tour of Lausanne and meeting with Lausanne Tourisme
Virtual part
The virtual sessions will take place on Thursdays in the late afternoon (in principle from 4:15 pm to 7:00 pm, Paris time CET):
Session 1: 09.10.25, Introduction / Public Policy and Place
Session 2: 16.10.25, Place and its characteristics
Session 3: 23.10.25, Types of territorial attractiveness: successes & failures
Session 4: 06.11.25, Local governance and stakeholder analysis
Session 5: 13.11.25, Diagnosis & implementing attractiveness strategies
Session 6: 20.11.25, Attractiveness and competitiveness
Session 7: 27.11.25, Principles, phases and targets of place marketing
Session 8: 04.12.25, Assessing the impact of attractiveness strategies
Assessment
The evaluation of the course is based on two complementary assignments of approx. 15 pages each and a presentation.
The first report will be based on the contributions of the 8 virtual modules. Students will choose a city orregion to which they will apply the lessons given. They will be asked to submit a document containing the followingsections:
- The importance of territorial promotion in relation to the city's or region's public policies
- Description of a square and its main features (those that distinguish it from other squares)
- Attractiveness factors
- Positioning in terms of branding and marketing
- Stakeholders and organization of promotional activities
- Instruments used
The second report consists of analysing cities or regions from a comparative perspective. This involves taking aspecific objective or dimension of territorial promotion and analyzing how this objective or dimension is dealt with inseveral cities or regions. Students can choose the objective or dimension, but examples include the analysis ofsustainability in territorial promotion, the analysis of residential attractiveness or the analysis of promotion strategiesthrough taxation. The time required to prepare and present this work is estimated at 40 hours.
Students wishing to enroll in the course should be enrolled in a master's or PhD programme at CIVIS member universities. There are no prerequisites to participate in this course. A bachelor's degree in one of the following disciplines is an advantage: economics, geography, public administration, political science, law, place marketing and branding, public management.
Additionally, participants must demonstrate English language proficiency at a minimum B2 level.
They should also have ability to integrate multidisciplinary knowledge related to the territory (place), analytical skills and synthesis skills.
NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility
To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Students from Associate Member Universities in Africa are also invited to apply for participation in this course. One or two African students are eligible for UNIL mobility scholarships upon selection.
Partner universities:
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Aix-Marseille Université (France)
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Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
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University of Bucharest (Romania)
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Université de Lausanne (Switzerland)
The course is led by a distinguished team of scholars from across Europe, each bringing deep expertise in their fields.
- Alaux Christophe, Professor, Director of the Chair in Attractiveness and New Territorial Marketing, Director IMPGT, Aix-Marseille Université. In charge of the MOOC on attractiveness and territorial marketing.
- Mabillard Vincent, Professor, Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
- Pasquier Martial, Professor, Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne.
- Radulescu Corina, Professor, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest
Send your application by filling in the online application form by 4 May 2025, and including:
- CV,
- motivation letter,
- level of English (According to CEFR).
Applications will be evaluated based on:
- CV
- motivation letter
- level of English (According to CEFR)
- Interest in issues related to the regions and more generally to places
- Initial training (bachelor's degree) in one of the corresponding disciplines
- If possible, an idea of a region (place) that would be analyzed as part of this course
Comments from students who took the first edition of the course:
"A strong theoretical foundation, a team of teachers who perfectly cover all theoretical aspects, the presence of many case studies and practitioners, the multicultural environment of the students."
"Among the best parts, I mention the balance between theory and case studies presented by practitioners and even by those who are currently implementing them."
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