Bridges to local economies: Community and place-based strategies for local authorities

What does it mean for an urban economy to be “green”?And what is the role of public authorities in “greening” theireconomies? This report takes a new look at these questionsby exploring how local economies would look like if they werebuilt around specific places and their communities.The material in this report draws on extensive research thatbrought together scholars from different academic disciplinesand territorial authorities from Rome, Brussels and Londonaround innovative projects aiming at local economictransitions. The work was part of the TURAS programme, aresearch consortium exploring the transition towards urbanresilience and sustainability through action research in 12cities and regions across Europe. This report is based on theTURAS work package on governance and economic resilience.Observing local initiatives in practice helped us to define thecontours of a place- and community-based economy. It is anarea of activity that builds on existing natural and humanmadeassets in order to deliver value to local communities.It is also a policy field that requires the active involvement oflocal and regional authorities as “bridging actors”. Indeed,the focus of this report is about the transition process towardsa more sustainable economy and the role that territorialauthorities can play to bridge the gaps between varioustypes of stakeholders, different geographical scales as well asmultiple types of knowledge. We provide specific governancetools in form of “bridging strategies” and insights about howthese strategies can be implemented in practice.