The capital cities have always been the places where political power has been exercised through urban transformation. In this paper, the authors explore two undertakings in Skopje: the post-1963 inner-city renewal and the Skopje 2014 project. In contrast to the previous framings of the project, authors argue that the place brand authors in both periods applied the same practice, namely architecture, to rebrand the city. Drawing from the theory on corporate rebranding, the strategic importance of the cities, and research findings, the authors further the academic codification of the place rebranding concept. Namely, while the changes in the urban vocabulary and the management of the places throughout history were not referred to as rebranding, the authors argue that the applied policymakers’ practices were the same to a certain extent. Additionally, as the current public policy regarding treating Skopje 2014 lacks a clear framework, the authors add to the practical application in the urban management of the (capital) cities when handling the inherited unwished-for past and suggestions for overcoming these. The paper accentuates participatory marketing and branding in public policy creation and also includes also the usage of a computational model with differential equations and a Python program for framing the interaction between place rebranding, architectural transformation, public policy, citizen participation and national identity narrative.