This paper was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme. The work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of the work by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to create opportunities and improve outcomes across the United Kingdom.
This report is part of a broader workstream focusing on the role of place identity in place transformation, led by Talia Melic, Policy Analyst, with the support of Celia Benhocine and Anni Huovinen, Policy Analysts.
The publication is authored by Talia Melic and Celia Benhocine, Policy Analysts, under the supervision of Anna Rubin, Manager of the Global Forum on Local Development, and with guidance from Nadim Ahmad, Deputy Director of CFE and Head of Division, and Karen Maguire, Senior Counsellor (CFE). Chapter 5 is based on a longer draft authored by Dr. Giannina Warren, Associate Professor, Senior Program Manager, School of Communications and Design, RMIT University Vietnam, whose inputs also informed the case studies on Tasmania (Australia) and Durham Region (Canada) as well as other sections of the report.
We would like to warmly thank the participants of the OECD seminar series, “The role of Place Identity in Place Transformation”, which took place virtually from February to May 2025, whose generous contributions and case studies formed the basis for this report. We would also like to thank participants of the February 2026 symposium on “From pride to practice: Building community capacity to transform places”, generously organised by Professor John Tomaney, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning in the Bartlett School of Planning, and Pro-Provost (Regional Communities), University College London. The report was also informed by interviews with and comments from Jess Radford, Acting CEO, Brand Tasmania, and Jacquie Severs, Manager, Marketing and Tourism, Invest Durham.
The report also benefitted from input and comments from delegates of the OECD Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Directing Committee, members of the Transforming Places expert group, as well as OECD colleagues Ekaterina Travkina, Peter Haxton, Issa Torres Martinez, and Bruno de Menna. Thank you also to Alannah O’Reilly for editorial support.
Eloisa Cozar Navarrette, Assistant and Bridgette Joyce, Project and Product Co-ordinator (CFE) prepared the report for publication.