In the Alps, the strategies of commercial development on the municipal level have been to react to single cases in the short term. A coordinated and concerted strategy using the regional and local potentials is missing. COMUNIS aims at developing a well-defined integrative and cooperative strategy for Commercial Location Development (CLD) and enhancing inter-municipal and intra-territorial cooperation to overcome individualistic attempts of problems solution on the level of single municipalities. COMUNIS will provide broadly adaptable guidelines to apply this strategy and practical instruments for the assessment of the local and regional demand for and the steering of commercial development with particular focus on diversification and efficiency of economic activities, environmental and social concerns, human and cultural capital. Furthermore the project will result in a transnational knowledge management and establish sustainable structures for managing CLD in the pilot regions.