Contemporary Social Science

Strengthening Local and Regional Foundational Economies: From Research to Policy and Practice

The foundational economy comprises the essential infrastructures, goods and services that sustain everyday life, including transport, food, energy, housing, education, health and care (Foundational Economy Collective, 2018). Around 40 per cent of people work in these sectors, which also absorb much of public spending and underpin daily wellbeing. Although often overlooked, foundational sectors shape life chances and perceptions of social progress more directly than the high growth ‘frontier’ sectors that continue to dominate industrial and regional policy (Calafati et al., 2023; Haldane, 2025).

In many places, foundational economies have been weakened by austerity, public disinvestment, market-led regeneration and regional economic restructuring, alongside the privatisation and assetisation of public services and infrastructure (Engelen et al., 2017; González and Taylor, 2026; Winkler-Reid, 2024). As foundational sectors have become increasingly organised around market logics, concerns have grown about affordability, accessibility and equity. These pressures have been especially acute in post-industrial and peripheralised regions, where the erosion of everyday services has compounded existing disadvantage (MacKinnon et al., 2022; Tomaney et al., 2024). Against a backdrop of widening spatial inequalities, demographic change, climate pressures, political discontent and rising living costs, foundational economy thinking has emerged as a important and influential alternative to growth-first approaches to development (Crisp et al., 2023; Russell et al., 2022).

This perspective is increasingly influencing policy and practice (Berry, 2022; Reeves, 2018). Local and regional governments are drawing on foundational and everyday economy ideas to shape development strategies, procurement policies and public service reform (Sissons and Green, 2025). National governments are investing in infrastructure, housing, healthcare and public goods, while many policymakers are advancing agendas focused on repairing and renewing the essentials of everyday life, whether or not they explicitly adopt the language of the foundational economy. In the UK, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, has made everyday goods and services central to his mission of driving “good growth in every postcode” (UK Government, 2026: np). In the US, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s revival of “sewer socialism” (Blanc, 2026) centres on restoring affordability and access to basic needs through fare-free transport and the municipalisation of grocery provision, among other measures.

Over the past decade, foundational economy research has highlighted the importance of foundational sectors for resilience, territorial cohesion, regional development and wellbeing (Hansen, 2022). Yet significant opportunities remain to advance its empirical, theoretical and practical dimensions. Policymakers, practitioners and community organisations often lack robust place-based evidence to guide decision-making, assess impacts and demonstrate contributions to foundational liveability (Green, 2026). Important questions also persist about governance, finance and institutional reform, as well as the relationship between the foundational economy and related agendas such as community wealth building, doughnut economics, mission-driven innovation and just transitions (Crisp et al., 2023).

This Special Collection seeks contributions that put foundational economy thinking into practice. We welcome empirically grounded, policy-engaged and action-oriented research that examines how foundational economies can be strengthened, governed, financed and evaluated across diverse geographical and institutional contexts. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary work that connects empirical analysis to action, and that extends foundational economy thinking into new geographical, institutional and policy contexts, including beyond the Eurozone, where much of the existing work has been concentrated. By bringing together innovative research, the Special Collection aims to strengthen links between evidence, policy and practice while advancing a more robust and impactful foundational economy agenda.

Topics may include, but need not be limited to:

• Foundational goods and services and foundational liveability, including their quality, accessibility, affordability, resilience and distribution, and their contribution to everyday life, social wellbeing and regional development.
• The supply and demand sides of the foundational economy, including provisioning, production, ownership and investment models, as well as questions of access, affordability, distributional justice and the role of foundational services in meeting social needs.
• Governance, policy and institutional change, including practical foundational policy frameworks, procurement strategies, public service reform, place-based approaches, multi-level governance and institutional innovation, as well as comparative analysis and lessons from policy experimentation.
• Work, production and economic development in the foundational economy, including workforce conditions, pay, precarity, recruitment and retention, skills, productivity, sustainability and resilience in foundational sectors.
• The foundational economy and economic ‘growth’, including pro-growth, growth-critical and post-growth perspectives, and the relationship between foundational economies and wider approaches to local and regional economic development.
• Evidence, evaluation and research methods in relation to the foundational economy, including new data sources, indicators and metrics; approaches to measuring foundational liveability and social value; and co-produced, participatory or action-oriented research that generates policy-relevant knowledge and supports learning across places.
• The politics and future directions of foundational economy thinking, including questions of what ‘counts’ as foundational; relationships with adjacent concepts and policy agendas such as community wealth building, the everyday economy, the wellbeing economy, mission-oriented innovation and just transition; and the development of foundational economy approaches across different geographical and institutional contexts.

This Special Collection brings together critical scholarship and applied research to strengthen the links between research, policy and practice, and to foster dialogue across disciplines and sectors. Accordingly, we particularly welcome submissions from interdisciplinary teams and collaborations between academics, policymakers, practitioners and community organisations that point to concrete pathways from research to policy and societal impact.

References

Berry, C. (2022). Labour's ‘Everyday Economy’: Why, How, and for Whom? The Political Quarterly, 93, 691-699.

Blanc, E. (2026). The Lessons of "Sewer Socialism". Catalyst: A Journal of Theory & Strategy, 9(4), 70.

Calafati, L., Froud, J., Haslam, C., Johal, S., & Williams, K. (2023). When Nothing Works: From Cost of Living to Foundational Liveability. Manchester University Press: Manchester.

Crisp, R., Waite, D., Green, A., Hughes, C., Lupton, R., MacKinnon, D., & Pike, A. (2023). 'Beyond GDP' in cities: Assessing alternative approaches to urban economic development. Urban Studies, 61(7), 1209–1229.

Engelen, E., Froud, J., Johal, S., Salento, A., & Williams, K. (2017). The grounded city: From competitivity to the foundational economy. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 10(3), 407–423.

Green, L. (2026). Strengthening the Foundational Economy: Moving from Theory to Action, Insights North East, 24 March. Available at: https://insightsnortheast.co.uk/blog/strengthening-the-foundational-economy-moving-from-theory-to-action/

González, S. & Taylor, M. (2026) Value struggles in the foundational economy: Reclaiming marketplaces as foundational infrastructure. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space.

Haldane, A. (2025). “Industrial strategy needs more than ‘superstars”, Financial Times, 16 September. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/3a919be7-306c-4f0e-a54d-fb714b00009d?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Hansen, T. (2022). The foundational economy and regional development. Regional Studies, 56(6), 1033-1042.

MacKinnon, D., Kempton, L., O'Brien, P., Ormerod, E., Pike, A., & Tomaney, J. (2022). Reframing urban and regional 'development' for 'left behind' places. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 15(1), 39–56.

Reeves, R. (2018). The Everyday Economy. Pamplet. Available at: https://www.rachelreevesmp.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2020/09/374425087-Rachel-Reeves-The-Everyday-Economy-1.pdf

Russell, B., Beel, D., Rees Jones, I., & Jones, M. (2022). Placing the foundational economy: An emerging discourse for post-neoliberal economic development. Environment and Planning A, 54(6), 1069-1085.

Sissons, P., & Green, A. (2025). Facing up to the foundational economy: Regional development, public policy and employment in Wales. Regional Studies, 59(1), article 2435521.

The Foundational Economy Collective, Froud, J, Johal, S, Moran, M, Salento, A & Williams, K 2018, Foundational Economy: The Infrastructure of Everyday Life. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

Tomaney, J., Blackman, M., Natarajan, L., Panayotopoulos-Tsiros, D., Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, F., & Taylor, M. (2024). Social Infrastructure and Left Behind Places. Routledge.

UK Government (2026) “Prime Minister pledges growth in every postcode across whole of UK as he visits Scotland”, 23 July. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-pledges-growth-in-every-postcode-across-whole-of-uk-as-he-visits-scotland

Winkler-Reid, S. (2024). “As Much Value as Possible”: Construction, Universities, Finance and the “Greater Good” in the North East of England. In: D. Kalb (ed.) Insidious Capital: Frontlines of Value at the End of a Global Cycle. Berghahn: London. pp.242-270.