Building styles in municipal architecture as expression of regional identity: the city branding of public space in French border areas

Prominent public buildings are an important way for municipalities to express their identity. This is particularly important in border regions of countries that have historically been acquired from other nations and have seen rapid and thorough nationalisation of territorial, functional and institutional shapes. National unification policies have merely left symbolic shape for cities to express their specific identity. This chapter examines how municipal public buildings in three French border regions reflect how cities located in these regions use townhalls, belfries, railway stations, residential buildings in their historical city centres, museums and war memorials to brand who they are.