The City of Long Beach offers official representations through several different mediums like websites, videos, and media coverage. The official representations of Long Beach present the city to be a very progressive, cultural, cosmopolitan, environmental-friendly, community-oriented, and an ideal place to live and visit to the rest of the world. Through the City Website, Long Beach has been able to target itself as an ideal place of residence because of the many neighborhood resources that are offered, a great place to do business because of the large market and economic opportunities, and last but not least the perfect place to visit.

The economic crisis that affected many American households really affected Long Beach, especially in the residential areas because a lot of homes were subject to foreclosure. Currently, Long Beach has worked really hard to transmit an image to the rest of the world that it is on its way up and that it is still a great place for investors to invest in. Through several projects, Long Beach is trying to represent itself as being increasingly cosmopolitan in order to attract new middle-class residents, and tourists.

Official Long Beach You Tube Channel

Through the Long Beach You Tube Channel, the city has made sure to represent itself as being a very urban and cosmopolitan city that is on its way up in order to attract investors as well as middle-class urban residents like shown in the video below.

The city also likes to highlights the involvement that the residents have with the city and the redevelopment plans that it is undertaking. The video below discusses how programs have been implemented in order to offer the LBC residents affordable housing, and how the city wants to invest in the residents. It also contains a section on opening up more green-spaces through parks for its residents as well as teaching them how to adopt more environmental-friendly ways of living.

Representations Through the City of Long Beach Website

The website of the city of Long Beach is very extensive and thorough. It has 4 sections and it includes; residents, businesses, visitors, and social media. The resident section is by far the most extensive, letting the community know about the neighborhood resources the city has, health centers, where to get licenses and permits, etc Long Beach has a very large number of residents within the city so the city does seem trying to accommodate to some of the needs to the community by making it a priority. The city does seem to be making a big effort in getting the community involved by really advertising their Town Hall Forums through their website, and providing a lot of ways to get the community involved.

The city also seems to prioritize businesses in the city. The website gives current and future business owners tools on how to obtain information that they require to maintain their business, and some of the most advanced features of this include a development map letting them know what businesses have already been set up where. As a global city, Long Beach does prioritize not only small businesses but their website also caters to those that are interested in investing in the city.

The city also has a strong emphasis on social media, and the description that is shown in the website is above. Through being so active in social media, Long Beach does want to have the opportunity to engage and provide residents information that could help them and improve the livelihood of their communities. Long Beach is such a big city, and since it is trying to increase its status after the economic crash the city has realized that the key to this is to bring about strong community support, and a great way, effective, and fast way to do this is through social media.

Long Beach as a Tourist Destination

Long Beach is heavily marketed as an ideal tourist destination. The visitor page describes Long Beach as being the "Perfect destination where everything is' and "Not just another pretty beach." The city is heavily marketed for its sunny skies , and 'walkability' around the harbor.

More than a pretty beach, the city has a lot to offer visitors according to the official websites. One of the most historical landmarks in the city that is always marketed is the Queen Mary which was a WWII Troopship, and which brings very large crowds every year. The website also highlights that while Long Beach can be very family-friendly because of the beach, harbor attractions, and the aquarium it is also a lot of place for adults to have fun. The nightlife of Long Beach is highlighted as well as the fine dining, concert venues, comedy shows,etc. The site really tries to show Long Beach as a place that has it all, as a place that is growing, a perfect place to visit. Long Beach also really likes to market the ethnic diversity of the city as well as their inclusion of the arts. The website lets visitors know that there are artwalks and art festivals events on a monthly basis, and that the city has museums that represents the city's diversity like the Museum of Latin American Art and the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum.

The official representation of Long Beach is very varied but it delivers a clear message to the rest of the world. It is a city that is on the way up from the economic crash that hit it 6 years ago. It is a place that is concerned about the status of its residents, and a city that is willing to provide resources for them. It takes special care of business owners and investors. However, the strongest message that Long Beach is trying to send is that it is becoming a very cosmopolitan and very progressive city. As a global city it likes to market the many hotels, museums, exhibitions, beaches, restaurants, entertainment facilities, and the many other attractions that the city has. It is doing this and now letting everyone know that they are trying to do this in an environmentally-friendly way, they want to let the world know that as a beach city they are trying to go green. While these efforts are mostly concentrated on the affluent sections of Long Beach like downtown and the neighborhoods that are close to the beach, there has been a little more attention now to the other sides of Long Beach now. The city lets the world that it is the global city that has it all.

By: Katherine Herrera

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Background Image:
Downtown Long Beach
Author: Geographer
Date: April 17, 2001

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