A Narrative Ecosystem for Benevento

Abstract

In territorial enhancement through communication design, current tools often prove inadequate to represent the evolving complexity of places, although paradigmatic cases like BeBerlin show that place communication can act not merely as a promotional device, but as a narrative act fostering social cohesion. From this starting point, this research addresses the question: how can communication design move beyond static place branding to develop fluid, co-constructed placetelling processes that strengthen social ties in evolving territories? To answer this, the research defines a sensemaking and narrative-oriented process through the pilot project Autentici da Millenni in Benevento. The project intersects service design and transmedia strategies, integrating Design for All principles to reconfigure current operational frameworks. Both expected and initial results — evaluated through qualitative community feedback, stakeholder roundtables, and ongoing interactions with the local public administration — aim to demonstrate how narrative strategies can represent and activate complex, impermanent place identities. Within a context of growing emotional hypertrophy among citizens, marked by social detachment and civic erosion, narration emerges as a participatory tool capable of creating shared meaning and social bonds within an unstable reality.