‘We gave the city its image and put it on the map.’: intangible cultural heritage and city branding in Buenos Aires and Valencia

In this article, we propose an analysis of the intangible heritagization of elements in urban settings as it relates to the promotion of a city brand, within the context of a fast rise of urban planning models with a strong emphasis on the production of corporate branding. We will focus specifically on the processes leading up to the nomination of intangible heritage elements for UNESCO listing and their relationship with the economy-culture-leisure triad, concretely in the cases of the Fallas festivities in Valencia, and filete porteño in Buenos Aires. Building from the Spanish and the Argentinian cases, we discuss how intangible heritage policies are increasingly becoming an essential part of the development of city branding, insofar as they help to promote the local identity and image, legitimized by the UNESCO label.