Scottish Government

Who we are and what we do

Placemaking is a relatively new idea which has been imported from the United States. It is being pioneered in this country by Greenspace Scotland, working in partnership with several local authorities. One of them is South Ayrshire, where it is being tested with three different communities. The aim is to bring these communities and local agencies together to turn uninspiring and often unused public spaces into places where people want to spend time.

Placemaking is not an easy thing to describe. It involves a series of observations, interviews, surveys, taking photographs and workshops. The workshops are used to look at, listen to and ask questions of people in a particular space, to find out their needs and aspirations. The information collected is then used to create a shared vision for that place. Often beginning with small scale, do-able improvements that can bring immediate benefits to spaces and the people who use them, placemaking is also about the longer term - agreeing how these spaces should be looked after and where the money might come from to make sure this is done well.

How we got going

In South Ayrshire, the council recognised that its more successful public spaces were lively, secure and attractive places that encourage people to use them. We wanted to see if placemaking could help deliver similar results in some of our more deprived communities. We used Greenspace Scotland to help train up our staff. We then called an initial public meeting for people who might be interested in the relationship between regeneration and the environment, to test out whether there was interest in setting up placemaking groups.

The response was encouraging. Three groups were established in Girvan, Lochside and Tarbolton.

How we organise ourselves

All three placemaking projects are different, but each follows the same path and uses the same techniques. Community empowerment is at the heart of each one, with a combination of 'quick wins' which enable communities to see early changes, and a longer period of testing out ideas, so that the final schemes can have a real sense of community ownership. Its a gradual process with no certainty about the outcomes when you start. In that sense, it is still experimental.

Placemaking is not just about making better spaces for people. It helps to build bridges between communities and agencies, it gets young people involved in planning, it builds community capacity and it can give communities a new sense of identity and pride.

Where our funding comes from

Placemaking doesn't have its own budget in South Ayrshire. Funding for schemes which emerge from the placemaking process can come from a wide variety of sources. Many improvements require little or no funding anyway; sometimes voluntary effort is all that's needed. For bigger changes, the council and its community planning partners are the main sources of support, but other agencies, including local businesses, are often involved.

What we've achieved so far

Tarbolton is a small, former mining village in the South Ayrshire countryside. It was the first of our placemaking projects to get started and has been very successful so far. Many of the village's public spaces were run down and unused. The community and local agencies were brought together to help re-create a new heart for the village. The aim was to tackle the disused village square, a war memorial and the village entrances.

Tarbolton has a number of well-established community groups, including an active tenants and residents association. They run events, fund-raise and get involved in decision-making about many aspects of the village. It's a vibrant community, but also one in need of investment to improve its image and attract visitors.

With 30 organisations involved in the initial placemaking workshops, consultation quickly expanded to include contributions from over 200 local people. The community very quickly took ownership of the process, tackling many of the problems themselves -cleaning entrance signs and painting railings.

With a longer-term vision for Tarbolton now in place, the community is now leading on finding the funds to redevelop its main public spaces.

David Burns helped set Placemaking up in Tarbolton and undertook the training course provided by Greenspace Scotland. He is the local Housing Manager for South Ayrshire Council.

"People really took the idea to their hearts and now, volunteers rather than the council are leading on the regeneration of the village"

What we've achieved so far

Lochside is a neighbourhood on the north side of Ayr, built in the late 1940s. Work has begun on housing renewal here and there are plans for two new public spaces. Placemaking has focused on the existing and new green spaces.

Around 30 community members and local agency representatives have been involved in a series of workshops, along with a group of young people from the area. We looked at how new spaces, created by housing renewal, should be designed. Its been a slow process here - much of the housing renewal work has been delayed, but despite this, those involved see it as a valuable experience.

In Girvan, the area known as 'Stumpy Corner' was seen as both a problem and an opportunity; it seemed ideal for the Placemaking process. An Action Plan to improve the area was drawn up by local people. Though relatively new, the group is now attracting more volunteers. Some 'quick win' projects such as painting seats and renovation of historic plaques have taken place while the group consider linking up with forthcoming events in the town. Funding for large scale work will only be sought when the area becomes more vibrant and the group feel they have a better understanding of how the space can best be used.

Brenda Buchanan is a resident on the Make it Happen Group, says, "It's been a good learning process all around, especially for the planners working with our community."

The problems we've overcome

The outcomes of our placemaking projects are never certain. While Tarbolton really took off when the community took ownership of the process and got involved in significant numbers, getting the local community involved in the Stumpy Corner initiative has proved difficult so far - it is currently led mainly by local agencies. There is always a danger that communities will find the relatively slow pace of Placemaking frustrating when sites have been a problem for years and there is no readily available pot of money there to improve them. We have tackled this by focusing on small things that can be done quickly and at minimal cost.

Deryk Irvine of Greenspace Scotland feels Placemaking projects must have time to develop…

"Placemaking is a long term process. It often involves run-down, complicated sites in different ownerships with no easy solutions. It takes time to come up with the right approach and this gives local communities the time they need to build up their skills and experience. In South Ayrshire, the council have understood the approach and it's working well, but even here some agencies have found it difficult to come to terms with. They often want to see instant solutions, turning ideas into plans and then action. Placemaking is a journey for local communities, not an end in itself"

What we've learned

Placemaking in South Ayrshire has been a learning experience for everyone over the past three years. Our main conclusions about it can be summed up like this:

• Community empowerment that is early and continuous must be at the heart of each project
• 'Quick wins' help sustain community interest and involvement
• Testing out ideas properly helps make longer term changes more sustainable
• Involving the widest group of agencies from the start ensures that the long term visions are shared, achievable, and have commitment from everyone
• Placemaking projects are experimental and that means they won't all succeed in the way we hoped or expected

What's next for us?

Placemaking has a lot of potential. The pilot projects in South Ayrshire and elsewhere in Scotland are showing communities and agencies how it can help deal with difficult sites and empower local communities.

The new emphasis on communities owning local assets opens up the possibility of some placemaking sites being transferred into community ownership, so their long term maintenance and management can be done locally. We are hopeful that funds from the Big lottery's Community Assets Fund might help with this.

Want to find out more?

We are always pleased to talk to people about our placemaking schemes. Please contact us at:

South Ayrshire Council
Newton House 30 Green Street Lane
Ayr KA8 8BH

Phone: 01292 612923 Email