Interconnected Values. An incremental and collaborative digital platform as a branding tool to boost resilience in marginal territories

This contribution suggests a reflection on new technologies and their impact on marginal areas in Italy, through an ongoing research and design project on branding as a driver of operative and transformative actions. The creation of an innovative platform for the enhancement of Inner Areas (SNAI 2014) is implemented in the framework of “Branding4Resilience” (B4R), a three-year project of national interest (PRIN 2017 - Young Line) funded by MUR and coordinated by UNIVPM, on four Italian inner areas in the regions of Piedmont, Trentino, Sicily and Marche; the B4R Platform design process is tested on the Appennino Basso Pesarese-Anconetano, involving nine municipalities in the inner Marche Region. Currently, artificial intelligence is applied in tourism to elaborate data on potential guests, to propose highly customized experiences, with a limited assessment of the impacts on the territory. For fragile territories, branding could represent not only a marketing solution but mainly a reactivation strategy, to be co-created with communities, local actors and visitors. B4R investigates an innovative path in which an incremental and collaborative platform for territorial branding can trigger transformation processes to increase the resilience of communities living in marginal contexts; an interdisciplinary approach was the key to co-designing a platform that generates a long-lasting value for the territory, to foster urban transformations and achieve sustainable development objectives.