Set against a powerful context of political instability and global economic uncertainty, and driven in part as a response to unprecedented challenges including Brexit and UK regional devolution, the paradigm of ‘place’ has seen rapid incorporation into national and global policy making and practice. Interpretation, development and evaluation of place has thus far been dominated by two fairly static definitions: a physical understanding of ‘a place’ as a defined, geographic territory and a socio-economic understanding of place as a self- contained economic and social system. This paper introduces cultural heritage as a third and critical criterion in realising a more comprehensive understanding of place. Through pragmatic application of mixed methods including ethnographic interview, questionnaire and survey, design science and action research, and utilising cutting-edge ‘living platform’ mapping techniques in analysis and visualisation, the research seeks to interrogate the inter-relationship between place and innovation, exploring that nexus through a cultural heritage lens. Through integrating critical factors of space and time, it creates a new conceptual framework for sustainable place-driven development and presents a new ‘place-driven’ economic paradigm, within which a whole series of previously accepted tripartite models can be elevated; presented collectively as ‘a fourth way’.