Place-Based Solutions

How locally focused, ethically driven action can help communities and ecosystems thrive in the face of crisis.

How do we move beyond simply surviving in a world of accelerating environmental and social disruption? Place-Based Solutions offers a bold and practical response, charting a path toward what Charles G. Curtin calls "prosilience"—the capacity not just to endure crises, but to leap forward through them. With over thirty years of collaborative, on-the-ground experience in conservation and climate adaptation, Curtin explores why so many well-intentioned efforts fall short and what distinguishes the ones that succeed.

This book distills decades of applied research and institutional leadership ideas into a framework for designing solutions that are adaptive, durable, and rooted in the strengths of local communities. It explains how to transform the ways people think, organize, and act in response to complex challenges, especially when top-down, technocratic approaches fail to deliver. Place-Based Solutions emphasizes the power of small and mid-sized organizations to catalyze meaningful change, using real-world examples to illustrate how lasting impact depends on aligning ethics, equity, institutional design, and the ability to learn over time.

Curtin encourages readers to shift their focus from the pre-crisis status quo to preparing for—and thriving in—novel futures. Accessible, honest, and deeply grounded in practical solutions, this book assembles a set of proven principles for turning uncertainty in the face of societal transformation into opportunity. It is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand how humanity can respond to global crises with creativity, integrity, and lasting effect.