The two day workshop “Prizren City Branding” was held on the 7th and 8th of December 2017 in the old Town Hall building (Beledije) in Prizren. The workshop presented concepts for city branding, held inclusive discussions on the elements for branding the city of Prizren, as well as helped draft the branding action plan for the Historic Center Management Plan of Prizren. This workshop was organized by Autostrada Biennale (AB) and the Network of Cultural Organizations (RrOK) of Prizren, funded through CHwB Kosovo and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. This chapter deals with the workshop in Prizren, which gathered many participants to discuss the opportunity and need for branding Prizren, its importance and how to organize such an undertaking if it takes place. The program and fundamental concepts of branding were presented on the first day of the workshop.

Leutrim Fishekqiku from AB and Enes Toska from RrOK Prizren led the presentation on the purpose of the project, and the need to brand Prizren both as a historical zone, as well as a cultural heritage landmark with historic and contemporary values alike. To further develop the branding concept, Eliza Hoxha discussed branding as a product and as a process within different layers and contexts. She further discussed the difference between branding and marketing, and where one should be careful in understanding the trustworthiness of a brand and how to attain a proper representation. We discussed different levels of branding, beginning with the branding of public space, city, nation, and region. Later, the workshop focused on the factors that influence branding - the strong ones that deal with infrastructure and services, as well as the soft factors with their emotional aspect, and the sense of belonging and identity with the place. Another important factor is the matter of managing the resources that create a brand, as well as increase the representation and identification with the place. Nora Arapi further presented the values which have determined the vision and objectives for the development and management of Prizren’s historical zone. 

The group work component of the workshop aimed to bring about as many ideas on the material and immaterial values which distinguish the city of Prizren and its surroundings. Jeton Jagxhiu led the group dealing with the immaterial aspects, while Yll Rugova’s group dealt with the city’s tangible elements. The second day began with Tahar Almedar’s VR rooms presentation, which included a simulation of how Prizren might be branded with the keyword that best distinguishes the city such as #prizrening, and featuring its inner and outer determining factors. By this time, the first days’ discussions had already taken shape as a potential product for the branding of the city. Berin Hasi then went into the details of the representative elements of design and their use in documents, emblems and other identifying elements of the city. The roundup of the entire discussion was made with a skype call from international expert Rand Eppich, who shared his views of Prizren by comparing it with cases of different cities and who further emphasized many things that had previously been discussed in the workshop. It was fascinating to see him drawing parallels with the discussions of the local group with whom he had no previous interaction.