Cities and Territorial Brand in The Metaverse: The Metaverse SEOUL Case

Abstract

Cities involve units of time and space, being part of historical, social, economic, cultural, and tourist imaginary constructions. The goal is to understand how the territorial brand, based on regional development theories, is being used in the metaverse city of Seoul, South Korea. The method used was a case study associated with bibliographic and documentary research, using a protocol with four analytical categories. The main results referred to a metaverse territorial-regional brand, bringing discussions about a new geographical-virtual-immersive metaverse scale. It also addressed the use of recognition and competitiveness strategies between interactive-immersive territories. The conclusion confirms that Seoul’s metaverse territorial-regional brand is strategically divided into three situations: (1) For city marketing purposes, positioning it as the first metaverse global city; (2) in city branding to strengthen the reputation and identity of the territory; and (3) to drive the transformation of physical territory with urban revitalization projects from the metaverse environment. Moreover, it serves Metaverse Seoul as an interactive and immersive field laboratory in virtual reality.