Place Based & Community Capital

Place Based Capital enables communities to take charge of local capital, assets and resources — so they can drive local development, build shared wealth, and shape the future on their own terms.

What makes Place Based Capital different?

Place Based Capital is a values-driven approach to restructuring how capital and economic systems work for communities.

It promotes capital systems and solutions that are:

  • Grounded in place – shaped by the ecology, history, assets, and aspirations of each unique community

  • Focused on people – designed to serve needs and strengths of the local residents.

  • Led by local leadership, ownership and governance – giving communities real power to decide and direct

  • Built for inclusion, equity and long-term prosperity – ensuring all local people can participate and that value stays in the community and grows over time

  • Supporting self-reliance and resilience – by shifting power and resources closer to where they’re needed most.

It’s about creating practical, community-led solutions that reflect what matters most to local people.

What we mean by capital

Capital refers to resources, assets and capacities that hold value and deliver benefits. There are many different types of capital including natural, human, social, cultural, financial, political. It is essential for thriving communities and is the building blocks of local community and economic development.

Place Based Capital helps communities better understand and control all types of capital, with a particular focus on:

  • Financial capital – money, funding, finance, investment, income, and

  • Capital assets – land, buildings, natural resources, businesses, facilities, infrastructure, equipment, inventory, intellectual property and other assets.

That are essential for delivering vital services, building resilience, and achieving the community’s social, economic, and environmental goals.

Why it matters for communities

When communities have a strong capital foundation and can control the capital that shapes their daily lives, they can:

  • Respond to urgent local challenges

  • Launch and grow community-led projects

  • Create new sources of income and ownership

  • Build fairer, stronger, more resilient local economies

  • Shape their own futures, on their own terms

Who this is for

Place Based Capital is relevant for local communities, local organisations, councils, regional leaders, governments, philanthropies, and anyone working to create stronger, fairer, and more regenerative and resilient local communities and economies.

How it works

Place Based Capital builds local capacity across the essential functions of capital and economic development.

It enables local people, organisations, and institutions to understand, activate, and shape how capital is generated, accessed, owned, governed, invested, used and redistributed.

It provides the strategies, practices, structures, vehicles, and institutions needed for communities can fund what matters, own what they need, and build economic systems that serve them.

  • Place Based Capital enables communities to identify existing and generate new sources of local funding, income, assets, and capital value.

  • Place Based Capital enables communities to access funding and assets for local business, initiatives and community development from local sources and aligned non-local sources.

  • Place Based Capital enables communities to acquire and own local assets, services and enterprises of all kinds such as land, businesses, infrastructure, IP.

  • Place Based Capital enables communities to govern and manage local finance, assets, enterprises & service, promoting local leadership & stewardship.

  • Place Based Capital enables communities to invest in and fund local projects, assets, enterprises and development, including brings local people and organisations together to collectively do so.

  • Place Based Capital enables communities to reinvest and redistribute capital profits and benefits back into the community to generate ongoing local wealth and development.

  • Partner with external actors, such as governments, investors and philanthropists, to amplify Place Based Capital values and systems.

Types of solutions it offers

Solutions might include changing or establishing community mindsets, practices, structures, vehicles, institutions and policies.

It may include things like:

  • Community-led development, enterprises and services

  • Collective asset ownership structures

  • Community governance models

  • Local investment vehicles & funds

  • Community financing tools (debentures, bonds)

Where It Can Be Applied

Place Based Capital can support a wide range of local priorities, for example:

  • Addressing disadvantage and cost-of-living pressures

  • Supporting transitions to renewable energy and climate resilience

  • Creating affordable housing and community-owned assets

  • Strengthening local food systems and circular economies

  • Backing local enterprise, employment, and social innovation

  • Enabling regional planning and economic development

It’s a flexible model that can be shaped to meet the challenges and opportunities unique to communities.

About the Place Based Capital Initiative

The Place Based Capital Initiative unites interested places, partners and advance Place Based Capital in Australia.

It facilitates a network, provides training and develops practical tools and resources.