Exploring regional futures, tools and methodologies

The new English regional governance framework presents fresh opportunities to direct regional development in a more sustainable direction. However, for the North West region it is yet to be seen how these aspirations can be reconciled with the strong 'pro-growth' aims of the regional economic strategy. Within this context, the nature and findings of two interlinked projects which aimed to investigate and model regional development processes are presented. The first, 4-sight, is a resource flow audit for the promotion of sustainable resource management. Focusing on mineral flows, a mass balance methodology is used to facilitate a clearer connection between the use of resources and the generation of waste. Findings from 4-sight were then used in a second project, AtlasNW, involving the development of a digital atlas and future scenario model. Both projects make a useful contribution to the regional sustainability agenda through providing data and tools to underpin decision-making.