Revitalizing Place Through Social Enterprise

Rural and urban communities alike provide a sense of belonging and connection for their residents, yet around the world they face growing socio-economic and environmental challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, resource depletion, and inequality.

Confronted with such mounting threats, local leaders are increasingly using place-based social enterprises to reimagine and reshape the future. This volume introduces the PLACE Framework as a new approach for exploring how such enterprises tackle challenges and work to revitalize their places. The PLACE Framework was born out of engaged research in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and offers principles and lessons for community development that are relevant in other places. The contributors highlight the importance of Promoting community leaders; Linking divergent perspectives; Amplifying local capacities and assets; Conveying compelling stories; and Engaging both/and thinking.

As a means of counteracting placelessness in our globalized world, and building more resilient communities, this volume offers case studies of place-based social enterprises in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The volume's chapters are collaboratively written by academics and practitioners, and draw on the lived experience of social entrepreneurs and community leaders. The case studies shared in this volume show the diverse ways the PLACE Framework can be used to create more sustainable futures.