Scottish Government

The importance of architecture and place-making to government

The quality of the built environment affects everyone in Scotland. It is the purpose of architecture and urban design not only to meet our practical needs in housing our activities, but also to respond to the social and cultural values to which we as a nation aspire - to improve the quality of life for the people of Scotland. How buildings and places are made, the quality of their design and of the built environments they help shape should be a matter of concern for us all.

The key challenges for creating a high quality built environment are to:
 

• create successful, thriving and sustainable places and communities
• deliver well-designed public buildings which are greener - and which represent good value for money
• tackle the barriers to good quality development, through education, skills and advocacy

Our recent consultation A policy on architecture and placemaking for Scotland: public consultation 2012 was to inform the future shape of policy and help us to consider how our architecture and places can help provide a better quality of life and better position Scotland on the world stage. As a starting point for discussion, the paper considered 4 key themes around which the policy could contribute and asked a set of 12 related questions. The consultation closed on September 7, 2012.

 

Responses which the respondees have agreed should be made available to the public can be viewed here and a report analysing the responses is available here.

 

Architecture and Design Scotland curated an exhibition at The Lighthouse to support the consultation process. The exhibition (Input & Ideas) and a summary of visitor feedback are available here.