A common phenomenon is that larger cities have different place identities; therefore, this thesis is based on the case of Malmö since it is Sweden's third largest city. The purpose was to explore how Malmö’s place image coheres to its place identity, and how the duality of Malmö influences the place image.

The research was based on a qualitative case study with an abductive approach since the purpose was explorative. Furthermore, the developed conceptual framework of this thesis was based on previous research regarding place branding, more specifically, place image and place identity. The empirical material in this thesis was collected through a comprehensive user-generated content analysis of Instagram posts as well as through two semis-structured focus groups with people living outside of Malmö.

Findings revealed that the place image and place identity cohered in some aspects, while in other aspects the place image differs from the place identity. Furthermore, the findings revealed a complex duality within the city; thus, the place identity of Malmö sends out dual messages which influenced the place image that strengthened the duality of Malmö.

The findings of this thesis have contributed with insights to the field of place branding since the concept of place image has not been related to dualities within cities in previous research.The limitations of this thesis were that the participants in the focus groups were from the same university which might have influenced their perception. Another limitation was that only people aged 35 or younger participated. Due to Covid-19, it was hard to find people older than 35 to the focus groups and the result could receive a broader perspective if the participants were older. These limitations could be considered in future research to receive the place image of a broader age range. Furthermore, future research could consider complementing the method of this thesis with focus groups to expose both the positive and negative side of Malmö.