In 2019, the Government identified 100 towns that qualified for additional support in four key areas: transport, broadband connectivity, skills and culture. The latter three, in particular, are closely aligned. Culture, and the skills and digital connections necessary to develop, promote, and sustain it, help build the civic infrastructure to tackle urgent social and economic issues. Equally, a vibrant and diverse cultural life grows the creative economy, attracts and retains the young people who can revive depleted town centres, and bridges socially or fractured or divided semi-urban communities. The case for regeneration in our towns has been radically strengthened by the ongoing crisis of COVID-19: the economic challenges faced by SMEs, retail organisations, and the culture, heritage and creative industries have quickly become urgent. Yet this might also herald a moment of reflection and transformative opportunity in smaller communities in particular, as the new local and digital networks shaped by the collective social, mental, and economic challenges of the pandemic start to emerge. The behavioural and organisational adaptations by governments, businesses, and individuals may well also create a seismic shift in our understanding of how rapidly we can effect change by rethinking long-standing strategies, structures, or practices. This project will scope the role that that emerging and innovative multidisciplinary methodologies can play in allowing us to better understand and develop the contributions that culture can make to civic and economic regeneration. Working at the intersection of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the project team will frame the research in relation to the ongoing changes to the social and economic landscapes of towns, and their immediate challenges post-COVID-19. The project will produce a scoping study and report proposing future research directions, opportunities and priorities which will underpin and drive culture's role in the economic recovery and renewal of towns across the UK. It will focus on four case-study towns, identified from the government's '100 Towns' list, and through the robust local community networks of the Victoria County History project, developing transferable, extensible insights, cross-disciplinary methodologies and approaches. The project brings together researchers in the Humanities with Social Sciences specialists at the Centre for Towns Think Tank, with partners Historic England and the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre led by NESTA. It also includes collaborations with Triodos and Starling banks. At the forefront of applied practice, innovation and disruption in their fields, these partners and collaborators will help us think in radical new ways about the research agenda, and identify mechanisms for dissemination and impact.