A theme park in a fortress: politics and architecture in Macedonia

In recent years, urban branding has become highly popular. Shifts in global, national, and local economic bases have forced cities and nations to market themselves internationally as cultural hotspots. As cities with distinct cultures and recognisable architectural features are often more popular than those without them, some that lacked those unique features have gone as far as to reconstruct their architecture in an attempt to 'reinvent' themselves. Recent examples include Bilbao, Singapore, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.