Revitalization of Urban Folklore in the Process of Establishing a City Brand

Cities in the Republic of Moldova enjoy less complex and coherent strategies in terms
of promoting their own images in the country and abroad. Researchers in different fields, through
the scientific approaches they carry out, can contribute considerably to the formation of the cultural
branding of the cities from Republic of Moldova. Creating a city brand impliesthe realization of a
trans- and interdisciplinary approach, applying knowledge and methods of research and implementation
in fields such as: culturology, folkloristics, history, ethnography, imagology and mythopoetics.
The present article warns about the obligation to return to the exploration and promotion of folklore
for the creation of a genuine city brand. The reputation of a city depends, to a large extent, on the
stories accumulated in the collective memory; therefore research from this perspective is inevitable.
The purpose of the given approach is to open a new scientific perspective for our academic context,
on the basis of which, subsequently, the ethno-folkloric and mythopoetic identity of the cities of
the Republic of Moldova will be outlined. Nowadays, with the process of globalization and massive
urbanization, the sphere of folklore undergoes important remodeling; popular creations bear the
features of post-industrial society. This new configuration is considered not so much an evolution
of rural, traditional folklore as a new form of manifestation of collective memory and imagination.
Thus, we aim to explain the notion of urban folklore and debate its conceptual boundaries.