Touring pittsburgh's glocal narratives: Leveraging city brands for global and local audiences

The term "glocal" indicates a co-existence of local characteristics and global conditions that can lead to a co-dependency and counter-relationship between capitalism and culture. The hybridization of these spaces offers opportunities for glocal voices to become meaningful parts of the city brand, yet their inclusion within city branding techniques occurs primarily on the external level, i.e., within tourism or Destination Marketing Organizations' (DMOs) advertisements. This chapter explores how post-industrial cities can leverage the glocal in their city brand communications via narrative. It is argued that narratives reveal authentic perceptions of the city, while highlighting the complexities of a city's glocal identity. This study "tours" Pittsburgh's glocal narratives emerging from face-to-face, print, and online modalities to unearth the vitality of Pittsburgh's city brand for global and local audiences.