Članak inzistira na jasnom razlikovanju brendiranja grada i brendiranja destinacije, dok hrvatski i neki gradovi Jugoistočne Europe, prepoznavši turizam kao gospodarsku priliku, vide vlastiti urbani prostor gotovo isključivo kao destinaciju. Procesi brendiranja slijede istu razvojnu liniju, često propuštajući uključiti vlastite građane kao osnovu koja čini grad. Članak istražuje procese brendiranja odabranih gradova u Hrvatskoj te projekte brendiranja nekoliko gradova Jugoistočne Europe, koji su pokazali da većina svoje identitetske brendove dizajnira kao da je turizam jedina kulturna i gospodarska realnost koju zajednica može ponuditi. Mjesta se pretvaraju u destinacije, a metode brendiranja destinacije u obzir uzimaju gotovo isključivo privlačenje outsidera (gostiju), što rezultira manjkom održivosti za insidere (lokalno stanovništvo). Tako zajednice postaju „turistički proizvodi“, a pitanja stvarnog identiteta grada, njegovi nositelji i oblici u takvom su okruženju zanemareni. Članak također revidira pristupe odozgo prema dolje u brendiranju gradova te prepoznaje nove čimbenike u rekonfiguraciji gospodarstva i identiteta: kulturnu i društvenu participaciju. To je osnova za kreiranje metoda urbanog brendiranja koje se temelje na pitanjima samopercepcije i vizije razvoja zajednice. Predlaže se novi koncept identitetskog sustava kao teorijski okvir za radnu metodologiju, što je osnovica za novi pristup brendiranju (odnosno stvaranju identiteta) koji pojedincima omogućuje da doprinesu kolektivnom simboličkom okviru. Takav sustav štiti grad i građane a ujedno omogućuje gostima da upoznaju njegove istinske vrijednosti. ; The article insists on a clear difference between place branding (city or nation branding) and destination branding, while a number of Croatian and some Southeast European cities, recognizing tourism as economic opportunity, tend to see their urban space almost exclusively as various destinations. Branding processes follow exactly the same line of development, often failing to include the main fabric of the city – the local community itself. In the article, branding processes of selected cities in Croatia and branding projects in several Southeast European cities have been researched. The results show that the majority of them have designed their brand identities as if tourism was the only cultural and economic fact the community has to offer. Places are turned into destinations and destination branding methods work only towards attracting the outsiders, which then results in the lack of sustainability for the insiders. Thus communities become ‘tourism products’ and, within such a framework, the issues of the real city identity, its carriers and forms are neglected. In the article the top-down approach to place branding is revisited, new factors – cultural and social participation - are recognised in the reconfiguration of economy and identity. This calls for grounding the place branding methods on the issue of self-perception connected to the vision of communal development. Thus a new concept of identity system is proposed as a theoretical frame for the working methodology. It is a new approach to branding (or rather identity making) which enables individuals to contribute to the collective symbolic framework respecting the city and its citizens while at the same time allowing outsiders to get to know its substantial values.