There is a concern related to the development of cities in Indonesia that is felt toward the direction of a uniform and did not show regional characteristics of each. Construction of various tools of modern business-like malls, apartments, office buildings, etc.-in different regions shows that cities in the region have a tendency to be similar to large cities that already adopted a metropolitan culture. The desire to get high revenue making the city manager is very open to the entry of capital, without caring that the capital could be eroded locality.

That kind of worries that the mayor submitted Solo Joko Widodo during a speech in the discussion "Solo Finding Identity" in Hall Soedjatmoko, Solo, on May 21, 2009. By Joko Widodo, every city should have their respective characteristics to visitors coming to a city can be enjoyed both studying peculiarities of the city. For this reason, each town must have a blueprint for urban development for decades to come. Blueprints of this kind is being sought by the city of Solo Joko so that the city has a clear distinction with other cities. Through this long-term plan, expected Solo could have a clear positioning and differentiation with other cities.

There is an interesting statement from Joko Widodo, especially about the concept of positioning and differentiation diungkapnya city. The term "positioning" and "differentiation", a term that comes from the realm of marketing. Positioning concept associated with the process of making a product that occupies a unique and different from other products in the minds of audiences. Positioning is closely associated with differentiation, namely the process of making a product has a clear distinction with other products. To be able to find the right positioning, a product must have high differentiation. The higher the difference between one product with another product, the more easily positioning a product in the minds of audiences.

The use of the concept of positioning and differentiation by Joko Widodo, when discussing the identity or the identity of the city of Solo who want to build, indicate that marketing mindset is fundamental thought behind the effort to establish the identity of Solo. Solo need to have a blueprint that defines his identity-which automatically makes it different from other cities, so that city can be "marketed" to investors or tourists. The main mindset is: in order to "marketable", Solo as a product must have the differentiation with other cities so that the positioning of Solo in the minds of tourists and investors become clear.

Finding, forming, and then highlight the identity of a city to market the city is certainly not a mistake. However, modern urban management requires tourism ante investment and healthy growth. That's what the city needed a good marketing concepts, including branding and positioning. In the framework of marketing, of course not wrong if a city highlight a unique identity expressed in various domains, such as aristektur and urban planning, cultural activities, or certain values.

However, to keep in mind, the excavation and the protrusion of the identity of a city should not be done solely for marketing the city. The identity of a city needs to dig and find a collective effort of remembering for the citizens about the nature of the process of getting them, or in the Javanese culture is often termed the sangkan paraning dumadi. However, the process of remembering is not to be merely a formality nostalgia. Taking opinions Suprapto Suryodarmo artists in Discussion "Solo Finding Identity", extracting the identity of a city should be a foundation that paved the spirit of creativity or the creation of citizens.

Suprapto hopes, digging back Javanese culture as the identity of Solo can be an inspiration for the citizens of the city to create new cultural forms-oriented future. In the process of this kind, a kind of transformation: identity-oriented past utilized as a material to create cultural products that look far into the future. The identity of the goods not be dead, but as an inspiration to keep the new cultures that created not forget the origin initially.

A cultural transformation in a society that rests on the identity of these communities will produce new cultural forms are progressive, but at the same time "do not forget the mainland." In the face of globalization promoted transnational capitalism that brought gelontoran new cultural forms, extracting the identity of the city can become a shield that makes us not blinded by the glitter of foreign cultures. Although not necessarily be overdefensif against foreign culture, understanding their own identity can be lambaran that ensures we do not lose ground and dissolved in the euphoria of "global culture" that is sometimes ideological and destroy it.