The United Kingdom Is(a)land of utopia : self-representation of city councils and communicative strategies towards citizens

The concept of Utopia has always been associated with a place, a territory, a confined space in which utopia is realized, and once its boundaries have been overstepped, could become universal. Utopia inevitably draws a social ideal and a model of coexistence, imagining how men should/could organize their that I will try to outlined in these pages is, in fact, a contemporary utopia, one concerning "public communication", an expression that sounds like an oxymoron to common sense, especially for historical reasons, since institutions and governments have never excelled for their communication skills with the public. The utopia of the contemporary city becomes a common city project, an opportunity and a means of social change to be built on the basis of joint decisions. In this dynamic of change, new technologies have played a key role and have radically changed modes of interaction between public agencies and companies, as well as the way in which institutions can relate to citizens, as they not only help to implement the 'self-representation of the institutions for propaganda purposes, but encourage participation, the creation of networks and, ultimately, greater democratization and better governance (Wilhelm 2000; Coleman 2001; West 2004; Karakaya 2005). In order to explore how the institutions’ strategic objectives are discursively represented, and for purposes of comparison, the websites of four city or district council in the UK (Chichester, Exeter, Leicester, Norwich) will be investigated. These texts were examined to identify possible common traits which may provide evidence as to an ideal ‘collective identity’ to be constructed with the help of different subjects (public authorities and citizens).