Design, Identity and Sensemaking: a Fertile Approach for Small Territories

Recently, global competition among nations, big cities and major tourist destination has powered the specialization of disciplines such as territorial marketing, place and city branding, as well as numerous ranking systems for continuous monitoring of perception and reputation of places. The design approach to these issues has always been sensitive to the enhancement of peripheral and marginal areas compared to the large economic flows, with research and experimental design activities. Enabling small communities to recover their identity and to anticipate possible and sustainable futures is a goal that the strategic design for territorial enhancement pursues with great interest, as an appropriate alternative to growth systems based on large urban settlements. The story of a successful case, the “Postaja Topolove” project in a small village on the border between Italy and Slovenia, offers an opportunity to reflect on a number of key issues in the design process: recognition and planning of the sense of place, storytelling and narrative methods, use of certain levers for development as art and culture, and the centrality of the participatory and collaborative dimension.