The potential for adopting co-design methodologies to support place-based sustainable regional development in support of a just transition is a particular focus of the project. International experience would suggest that spatial inequalities at a national scale can be mitigated by promoting more sustainable and inclusive growth, grounded in a place-based approach that fosters and values community wealth building and the building of community-based coalitions. 

Through three very different case studies – north Leitrim, the Inishowen peninsula and the town of Kilbeggan –  we develop insights from a variety of stakeholders and our community co-creation mapping process on what a just transition to a less carbon intensive economy might look like. Drawing on the capabilities approach and ideas from emerging literature on the foundational economy, we develop academic insights into, and lessons for policy and practice on, how quality of life and wellbeing must become central to our attempts to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises.