The Transformation Flower Approach for Eco-Social Contracting: Comparative Insights from Eight Case Studies in the Global South and North

This chapter presents the Transformation Flower Approach (TFA) as a practical and reflective tool for guiding eco-social contracting processes in diverse territorial and cultural contexts. Calls for eco-social contracts are emerging to rebuild faltering trust and broken relationships between people, nature, and institutions by reweaving collective values, shared responsibility, and inclusive governance. In the chapter we present an approach for realising transformative views, structures and practices, as a vehicle for social contract change. As we will show, transformative change can be achieved through a structured process of multi-actor engagement where sustainability challenges in an area are translated into economic, social and ecological opportunities, through joint up thinking and action, payment for public value and informal and formal agreements which are negotiated in platforms for collective action and governance. The TFA offers a phased, dialogic framework to support transformative change, through coordinated actions in interconnected phases: co-creation of a concrete shared vision and core values, identification of systemic leverage points, building actor coalitions, and developing co-evolutionary and transformative governance pathways. Drawing on eight comparative case studies from Brazil, Chile, Italy, Netherlands (4x) and Turkey, this chapter highlights recurring patterns and localised innovations. Across all contexts, the TFA helped stakeholders clarify values, challenge dominant paradigms, and co-design strategies for regenerative and just futures based on alternative practices. The chapter integrates conceptual insights from systems thinking, transition studies, and care-based and post-growth economics, positioning the TFA as both a methodological and normative contribution to sustainability transformations. By grounding theory in practice, the TFA supports the crafting of eco-social contracts that are inclusive, context-sensitive, and actionable. It offers a promising approach for regenerative area-based transformation, aligned with international ambitions for sustainability and justice.