Abstract
For almost twenty years, the city of Bolzano/Bozen has been a laboratory for innovative practices in strategic planning, urban regeneration and participatory processes in several policy areas. Specifically, the beginning in 2004 of a strategic planning process led the city to formulate and implement urban development policies and interventions within a coordinated and shared strategic vision. The strategic plan 'Ideas 2015' (Idee 2015) was part of the long-term planning tools of voluntary nature. More than ten years later, within a changed regulatory and urban governance context, the city of Bolzano together with social partnership and organised civil society engagement, has realised a set of proposals for a vision of the future city, called 'Ideas 2025' (Idee 2025). A central role is played by the commitment to sustainable development, prompted by the need to adapt to many megatrends and trends that characterise the global, Alpine, and urban scene. In particular, increasing urbanisation has led Bolzano to rethink its management of public services in a more sustainable way (e.g., individual mobility and micromobility, sustainable construction, heating systems and district heating, waste management) and, recently, to elaborate a climate change adaptation strategy and a new plan for sustainable urban mobility. Bolzano is the first certified 'Gold Climate Municipality' in Italy (ComuneClima Gold), it was awarded the European Energy Award Gold and is a member of the Green City Accord, aimed at accelerating the implementation of EU environmental laws and the European Green Deal. The various strategic plans and participatory platforms, through which the city elaborates a vision of the future, are tools for guiding medium- to long-term mandate policies (Single Programming Document – Documento Unico di Programmazione) and future planning.
However, Bolzano does not have a fully shared and accepted vision, and this is reflected in a rather uncertain positioning. For this reason, Bolzano has analysed its urban identity(s) with the aim of defining both a shared vision for the future and positioning and to stimulate the activation of the different urban realities towards the city of the future. The identity analysis as well as plan definition and implementation were based on a cross-sectoral and participatory approach, involving tourists, residents, and commuters. The identification of the vision and strategies for the city of Bolzano/Bozen represents the first step in a broader process of city branding, namely the definition of a strategy to gain a competitive advantage that allows the city both to increase its investment and tourist attractiveness and to strengthen its urban identity (Kavaratzis, 2004).
The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between city branding strategies and sustainable development instances, and especially to examine the role of shared urban identity and of creating a sense of belonging for the effectiveness of sustainable urban development strategies.