Collaborative Zine Creation: A Creative Research Project on Economic Regeneration and Community Development  

From a growing shift to online shopping and out-of-town developments to rising costs and reduced consumer spending, town centre businesses are facing a range of social and economic challenges.

It’s an issue which is the focus of a collaborative research project being piloted by the Aberystwyth Business School.

With funding from our AberCollab 2024-25 programme, Dr Lyndon Murphy is using creative zine-making an innovative way of exploring and understanding economic regeneration and community development in the towns of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion and Mürzzuschlag in Austria.

Both places are facing similar challenges and staff from the business schools at Aberystwyth University and the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt in Austria are working together to help find solutions.

In May 2025, two workshops were held simultaneously – one at Aberystwyth University with business owners, university staff and other members of the local community, and another in Mürzzuschlag with a similar group of people.

Participants created zines based on their experiences, values and visions for the future of their communities and both workshops concluded with a structured discussion exploring interpretations of Aberystwyth and Mürzzuschlag’s past, present and future economic development and community development questions.

Dr Murphy explained: “By creating the zines as cultural texts, we are able to analyse how business owners and managers, local authority officers and residents perceive their area’s socio-economic realities, values and challenges. The workshops served as a springboard  for a creative dialogue which continues to develop.

“The use of zines to creatively analyse and evaluate economic regeneration is a comparatively new research method which facilitates participation and helps surface conversations which may not emerge from traditional interview led research methods or focus groups. This innovative approach has provided new insights into the economic regeneration and community development in Aberystwyth and Mürzzuschlag alongside more traditional analytical frameworks.”

Next steps

The project findings are being shared with Ceredigion County Council and the Mürzzuschlag Gemeinderat municipal authority in Austria.

A new community group has also been set up in Mürzzuschlag following the zine-making workshop to continue conversations around the town’s economic regeneration.

Collaboration continues too between Aberystwyth Business School and the Business School in the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, with a formal partnership being established between the two institutions.