Purpose – Literature on cultural districts has repeatedly pointed out the role of place branding as a tool to upgrade the image of urban environment as an indicator of meaning and significance. Throughout the case of UNESCO’s mining heritage district in Sardinia (Italy), the purpose of this paper is to investigate on the role that Place Branding Organizations (PBOs) has and/or may have in the construction of coherent images for landscape and cultural heritage in the design of “sustainable” cultural districts in connection with local authorities’ agenda. At this purpose, the authors propose an operative definition of “partnership building strategy” and a new analytic framework to evaluate PBO’s activity within place branding theory. Design/methodology/approach – Considering what recently expressed by UNESCO about the integration between spatial and cultural planning, the authors focus the research on cultural heritage districts protected by this organization. Starting from the definition of strategy proposed by Anholt (2011) and the participation-based approach outlined by Hankinson (2010), the authors propose a new analytic framework to evaluate PBO’s activity and the authors try to apply it to the experience of mining heritage in Sardinia (Italy), comparing the activity of local PBOs (the Consortium for the UNESCO’s Sardinian Geo-mining Park and the Local Tourism System) with the Development Plan of the Carbonia-Iglesias Province. In the final part of the work, the authors discuss the outcomes of the comparative analysis in terms of partnership building strategy and its influence on cultural heritage district design. Findings – The experience of the Sardinia district proves that partnership building strategy has a relevant role both in place branding and cultural heritage district design but it is not sufficient to make this letter really functioning. It confirms also that a place brand can survive to political regime changes on a periodic basis only if the PBO establishes an appropriate institutional framework for the creation of a cooperative network that can take the branding process forward. The research finding about place branding of UNESCO’s mining heritage sites, outline the demand for a new and more integrated approach in the district design, inspired to the geographic studies on “cultural basin.” Research limitations/implications – The analytical framework which the authors provide on the basis of a new operative definition of partnership strategy building, has proved to be a useful tool to assess PBO’s activity but, despite this, it represents only a partial result because the theoretical model of the relationships between PBOs, local and supra-local actors requires further developments to describe the effective type and nature of this links. Practical implications – The research finding about place branding of UNESCO’s mining heritage sites, outline the demand for a new and more integrated approach in the district design, inspired to the geographic studies on “cultural basin.” To achieve a real sustainable development and a shared enhancement of identity and landscape, the authors propose as a possible solution the abandonment of administrative boundaries in cultural planning through a correspondence between cultural district and historic region, this latter defined according to the methods and tools developed by the geographical sciences for the “cultural basin.” At this scope the authors propose a new methodological framework which takes the participation-based place branding into the “cultural heritage chain” for the district design, setting a future research agenda. Originality/value – The authors propose an operative definition of “partnership building strategy” for the participation-based approach outlined by Hankinson (2010) and, on this base, the authors test a new analytic framework to evaluate PBOs’ activity which combines the traditional activities of promotion and marketing with PBOs’ partnership strategies. Finally, the authors propose a methodological frame which brings the participation-based place branding into the “cultural heritage chain” setting a future research agenda in cultural heritage district’s design.

Purpose In last year, the innovations in shipbuilding and logistics have opened the walled towns of Mediterranean port cities to cruise tourism and other culture-led regeneration strategies. Thus, walled towns in Mediterranean port cities have a particular development potential which questions about the opportunities and risks connected to any comprehensive regeneration strategy with a cultural and tourist purpose, especially for fortified systems whose continuity has been undermined. The paper aims to provide some guidelines for policy-makers and planners in port cities which have decided or are deciding to develop a comprehensive strategy and a knowledge framework for the walled town similar to those already adopted for fortified sites in the World Heritage List. Design/methodology/approach The paper investigates on the opportunities and risks connected to any comprehensive regeneration strategy with a cultural and tourist purpose for the walled towns through a comparative analysis of four Mediterranean seaport cities, selected as case studies. Cities which have developed an integrated strategy to inscribe their walled towns to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Findings On the base of the case studies’ analysis, the paper proposes a critical reflection upon the management strategies for the UNESCO’s walled towns and supports a better understating of context factors as a way to strengthen the HUL approach when applied to Mediterranean seaport cities. Originality/value The paper sheds light on the application of the historic urban landscape approach to the walled towns of Mediterranean seaport cities. The paper is original because it provides: guidelines for policy-makers and planners in walled towns of Mediterranean seaport cities which have decided or are deciding to develop a comprehensive regeneration strategy for the city centre in line with those adopted in UNESCO’s fortified sites; a critical reflection upon the context factors which can strengthen the HUL approach when applied to Mediterranean seaport cities; criteria to update the HUL approach by UNESCO in analysing the conservation state, the managerial aspects, the participation and social aspects of walled towns.

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A considerable environmental turbulence pushes cultural and creative firms to cluster and to adopt new forms of cross-integration. An issue common also to wider entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) of SMEs. This evolutionary trend has given birth to a new generation of cultural districts defined as system-wide cultural districts (SWCDs) in which culture acts like a lever for all production sectors and not merely the cultural one, as in the past. The paper investigates the internal nested geographies of SWCDs through a comparative analysis of the district policies implemented by Italian Regions from 2000 to 2015 providing a new classification of cultural districts that updates the existing ones and reflecting on the links between SWCDs, urban policies and landscape planning.

This paper explores the role of non-state nations' identity and agency with regard to relations with their host nation states. The particular focus here is on the means by which such regions might express their individuality. To this end, we employ a comparative case study analysis of two non-state nations with a range of differing yet in other ways similar qualities-namely Wales (UK) and Sardinia (Italy). We suggest that this is a valuable exercise, allowing as it does for the exploring of evidence 'on the ground' of the processes involved. The conceptual rationale for the paper is provided by new regionalism-regions as actors beyond the nation state. Following this, the idea of the 'territorial policy community' is presented as a point of departure, with the scope of the paper being to develop a diachronic framework for regional change. Given the focus on identity and interest articulation, the role of regional political parties is a particular subject of the empirical investigation, with non-state nations and nation states linked by opportunistic relationships based on political and electoral support. We then consider what this might mean with regard to the capacity of non-state nations to build on the past to successfully negotiate future policy-making agendas. Finally, we reflect on the limitations of the study, and consider the implications of its findings for further research agendas.

Professionals and firms of the creative and cultural sector contribute to the creation of business incubators, fablabs and coworking spaces in the historic city, often benefiting from public support. Our paper deals with these creative spaces. It investigates the relationship that architects, as creative professionals and coworking managers, establish with the historic city, the workplace, and the planning and protection rules on buildings. In particular, starting from a research on coworking spaces in the historic District of Villanova, in Cagliari City (Sardinia, IT), this paper critically reflects on the current tools and methods used to map and manage creative spaces in the historic city, making some proposals for their improvement and enforcement in urban regeneration strategies.

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