Leveraging Landscape: The First Four Years of UNESCO Global Geopark Odsherred

Based on a study of the first four years of UNESCO Global Geopark Odsherred in Denmark, this chapter reflects on four questions raised in Kavaratzis et al. (Rethinking place branding, 2015): Why is place branding important? What builds place brands? Who builds place brands? And how should place management be understood and undertaken? It discusses whether, for relatively peripheral places that experience socio-economic problems, designation as global geopark may constitute a platform for addressing such issues by working with place-bound resources to achieve viable place-based development. In addition, it suggests that geopark status may allow for a more inclusive and participatory place branding process that relies on co-creating the place brand with multiple local stakeholders rather than on imposition of a place brand top-down. Given that the Global Geoparks Network (GGN) offers ‘a landscape approach for geological heritage conservation, research and sustainable development’ and relies on bottom-up local involvement, allocation of geopark status arguably creates opportunities to develop an overarching narrative and place stories that can be levered to foster pride of place and promote geotourism.