Community Branding (Co-Bra): A Collaborative Decision Making Process for Urban Regeneration

The paper introduces a methodology for a learning and negotiation process that supports urban regeneration, combining management models and multi-criteria/multi-group evaluation methods. The purpose concerns the urban regeneration issue in an interdisciplinary complex decisional context where Place Branding, Community Planning, Community Impact Evaluation, and Place Marketing interplay in a decision-making process named “Community Branding (Co-Bra)”. The processing of data and information elaborated by PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment Evaluations) is crucial for providing the decision-maker with a ranking of alternatives based on preference degrees. Starting from the analysis carried out for Matera ECoC 2019, the case study of Pisticci (MT), the third-largest town in Basilicata (Italy), tested the methodological approach. The choice of a multidimensional approach, focused on the recognition of social, economic and cultural resources, provides strategies of enhancement of cultural heritage and community network by a “community hub”, called “PLUS – Pisticci Laboratorio Urbano Sostenibile” (Pisticci Sustainable Urban Lab).