Open Access

I was in Bristol last week for the New Start seminar of local regenerators, and I came away with a sense that Bristol may be different from other places.

Bristol provides fertile ground for innovative social action from a range of groups. As such, it offers an opportunity to explore how ‘place’ can build better local economies. Kat Wall, who co-ordinates the NEON Bristol group, wrote the following report.

We spoke to 21 carefully identified and very different key change-makers, from small business, the voluntary, local council, and community activist sectors in Bristol to tease out which common factors enable – and which ones block – the success of some of the most innovative, pre-figurative attempts to systemically re-shape the local economy, Their insights are discussed in this study of the role of place in unlocking local economies. Some clear themes emerged: