Off campus, highly visible redevelopment projects, including the new Gateway Community College campus and a 500-unit green apartment tower, have enhanced the city's reputation for vibrancy while improving its image for safety.
"We've not done a good job at putting the word out that it's exciting," says David Waugh, past president of the National Society of Professional Engineers, which is working to improve its image with plans for, among other things, a TV show.
To improve its image, China sent $7 million for a new lighting system for this capital's showcase Sukhbaatar Square, named after a nationalist who, in 1921, declared Mongolia's independence, ending more than two centuries of Chinese colonial rule.
The first is branding, or cultural communication, in which the government tries to improve its image without seeking support for any immediate policy objective.
The central bank, so careful for so long to cultivate a sense that it was above politics, will now hold regular news conferences just like so many others in Washington, hoping to improve its image and build support for its policies.
"On the whole, this was a very ugly labor market report, and there is no amount of lipstick that can improve its image," says Millan Mulraine, an economist for TD Securities, in a note reacting to the report.
This is what must be done for Israel to improve its image: Allow entry of more food, medicine and building supplies into Gaza and the West Bank.
At first, the exodus of people from Swat, many of whom had suffered from the brutality of the Taliban, seemed to present a chance for Washington to improve its image in Pakistan.
The move is widely being interpreted as a way for Sudan to improve its image abroad and try to head off the possible genocide prosecution of the country's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in the International Criminal Court.
