New Prosperity Devon
New Prosperity Devon was set up in 2019 following a period of research and discussion by the Devon New Economy Group, which sought to foster a more sustainable and inclusive local economy, based on local food, local enterprise and shared prosperity.
The discussion was aided by Stewart Wallis, former Director of the New Economics Foundation and a Director of the Wellbeing Alliance WEALL, who lives in Devon. Research was conducted into the possibilities of building community wealth in Devon by encouraging local procurement, local food projects and community involvement in local economic planning in several areas within Devon.
Representatives of community organisations, social enterprises and Transition Exeter came together to learn from the community wealth-building initiatives in Cleveland Ohio when car manufacturing there fell into decline; from Preston Lancashire in the 1980s; Barcelona En Commu; Mondragon in the Basque Country with its flourishing co-ops; co-op development in Emilia Romagna and on the Scottish island of Eigg; and from work recently carried out in Wigan and Plymouth. There was also an interest in fostering local food growing and markets, which fed into the work of the Real Food Store in Exeter to introduce sustainable growers to consumers there.
New Prosperity Devon continued some of this work, and ran seminars and a webinar on Community Wealth Building for procurement staff and councillors in several Devon Local Authorities, including Devon County Council. We documented how people and local authorities in many different communities approached the task of restoring prosperity in their local areas after the financial crisis, with examples from Spain and Germany, to North Ayrshire, to Teignbridge and South Hams District Councils.
Relevant research, case studies and writings about local economics are presented in an accessible form in this Knowledge Hub, together with material on Economic Resilience, Wellbeing Economy and Doughnut Economics. These can now be found here on the Transition Exeter website, for those currently concerned with local economic resilience and prosperity in difficult times.
Knowledge Hub
Please tell us if you think something is missing or you have a case study you would like to share with us. If you have an idea, get in touch and we can probably direct you to the right people.
