The Investment in Productive Places Campaign, led by The Productivity Institute, has been designed to help UK localities strengthen productivity and prosperity by developing a richer evidence base on their distinctive assets.
Working with local stakeholders, the project applies a seven-capitals framework – covering physical, human, intangible, financial, social, institutional and natural capital – to help inform strategic investment decisions at the local authority level. Conventional measures such as GDP capture only part of what shapes local prosperity. By focusing on the full range of capitals, the campaign encourages policymakers to identify the assets a place already possesses, understand how these assets interact, and assess where gaps or weaknesses may hold back development. This helps reveal both the conditions that can generate virtuous cycles of productivity growth and the constraints that may lock places into cycles of decline.
The campaign has worked with eight places across the UK to develop a capitals data toolkit, produce policy-relevant insights and support collaboration across the public, private and community sectors. Each participating place has been developing substantial investment plans and growth strategies. By aligning research insights with national policy priorities and supporting devolved decision-making, the project aims to promote inclusive and sustainable improvements in living standards and wellbeing across the UK through an investment and productivity lens.
Alongside the summary report, readers can also access the accompanying technical report, which provides further detail on the campaign’s methodology, data tools, stakeholder engagement and research approach.
Authors Marianne Sensier, Kate Penney, Philip McCann, Michael Francis, Alfonso Silva Ruiz