Paint Your Town Red

'The "Preston model" as it is called, could, if applied all over the country, be revolutionary' – Observer

'Provides activists and campaigners with a critical insight into how they can transform their local economies from the ground up... Vital reading" – Grace Blakeley

'This book is everything we need right now – a how-to guide to municipal socialism that works, compiled by one of the left's best writers. Informative, clear, passionate and thoughtful' – Owen Hatherley

Paint Your Town Red tells the story of how one city in the north of England decided to level up without waiting for Whitehall.

Over the last decade, Preston City Council and its partners have earned Preston the title of Most Improved City by generating and democratising wealth at a local level. Through the experience of Preston City Council’s leader Matthew Brown, a main advocate of the new Democratic Economy and the driving-force behind the world-recognized Preston Model, this book explores how local actions can meaningfully transfer economic, social and political power back to communities.

But beyond Preston, Community Wealth-Building is a significant and growing movement in the UK and across the world. Using analysis, interviews and case studies to examine how a variety of local communities are applying similar principles to take control of their own circumstances, Paint Your Town Red gives us a blueprint for the wholesale transformation of our currently failing economic system.