What are learning points?
Learning Points share what people have learned from their experience in regeneration - from people working or talking together, or from research into issues and evaluation of what is happening. Learning Points can help people and organisations to improve their practice through identifying what works and what doesn't.
What is this learning point about?
This Learning Point is developed from an event held in February 2010, which explored the Renaissance Towns approach to urban regeneration. It brought together people from the public, private and voluntary sector across Scotland to debate issues and share experiences.
The event was jointly hosted by the Town Centres and Local High Streets Learning Network and Business Improvement Districts Scotland (BIDS).
What are the important issues?
- How can we best improve the social, economic and physical environment in Scotland's towns?
- What does the Renaissance Towns approach involve - and how can it enhance the regeneration of Scotland's towns?
- How can we channel local knowledge, skills and enthusiasm into the regeneration process?
- How can the character and heritage of our towns be protected alongside efforts to modernise and create sustainable economic growth?
- How can communities and local partners establish and articulate a shared vision for our towns?
- What are the best approaches to delivery - and how can approaches be sustained over the longer term?
What is known already?
- A central aim of regeneration is to create successful, economically sustainable places. This can lead to wider social and environmental benefits.
- The Scottish Government is committed to regenerating our town centres. It has supported Business Improvement Districts Scotland, the Town Centre Regeneration Fund, Urban Regeneration Companies and the Town Centres and Local High Streets Learning Network.
- Regeneration is a complex process. It requires an integrated approach to tackle the interconnected issues facing communities. Actions to tackle social and economic issues must sit alongside physical interventions if communities are to become successful and sustainable.
- The Scottish Government recognises that promoting regeneration helps to deliver on the national strategic objectives of a wealthier and fairer, smarter, healthier, safer and stronger and greener Scotland.
- Towns are a core part of life in Scotland. Approximately two million people live in Scottish towns ranging between 1,000 and 20,000 in population. Over 30% of the population live in small towns of less than 10,000 people.
- The economic role and function of many Scottish towns has changed. This means that there are key challenges in terms of re-thinking what our towns and urban places could be.
- For approaches to regeneration to be successful they need to be supported and driven by the wider community.
- We need to work together to deliver change. This means the public, private, voluntary and community sectors coming together to tackle disadvantage and regenerate our towns. And it is essential that key decision-makers are actively involved in the process.
- It is important to take a whole town view. To develop a vision for any part of a town we need to see it in the context of the whole town - the social, economic and environmental contexts and the decision-making structures that deliver change.
What have we learned about the Renaissance Towns approach?
Planning should be about people and society
- Good civic planning shouldn't simply focus on creating attractive buildings and planning for levels of use.
- Planning should be about people who live and work in a place identifying their own future. This means asking, 'What do we want our town to be?'
- The town belongs to local people - and not the planners and developers. The views of the community need to drive the planning process.
- The quality of the public domain is essential to civic life. Understanding where people want to be and improving the quality (and experience) of these places is important.
The Renaissance Towns approach puts forward key principles for delivering a shared vision
- The Renaissance Towns approach has developed from successful approaches in the US and elsewhere in the UK and has recently seen Neilston, near Glasgow, designated as Scotland's first Renaissance Town.
- The approach focuses on re-imagining what the town will be in future - making it a better place to live, visit and work in.
- The approach is focused on setting a long-term vision, regardless of short-term barriers. There is no fixed agenda for discussions moving forward.
- Residents are involved throughout the process and the aim is that planners and other officers 'facilitate' rather than lead the process. Expert advice is brought in as appropriate to inform and help the discussions.
- The open planning process results in the development of a Charter document, signed-up to by all participants. This is, potentially, a statement of intent and mandate for change for the town.
Renaissance Towns - a staged approach
The Renaissance Towns approach focuses activity around five principles with the community central to the process. These are:
- Building trust - early discussions with a range of groups and individuals to consider aspirations and explore potential approaches. The focus is on small-steps and building on the existing capacity and resources of the community.
- Town Team - beginning with an open meeting to introduce the approach and formally invite people to get involved. The town team is a cross-cutting group of citizens, stakeholders and decision-makers. They consider how the place might change and share ideas with the wider community.
- 'Charette' - open planning event(s) involving the whole community and drawing in expert help. This aims to focus on the principles for change and consider wider policy and delivery issues.
- Charter - the outcomes of this work is articulated in a charter for the town, signed by all participants in the process. The charter establishes a mandate and can be adopted by the council as Supplementary Planning Guidance.
- Delivery - the town team, charette and charter inform decisions on the right delivery structures to implement change. A key principle is shared responsibility with different people responsible at different levels and at different times. The charter sets out a strategic framework to be taken forward over time.
Communities should be involved in an open, up-front and inclusive way
- It is important that community members are involved in the regeneration process from the start. Local people should set the agenda and parameters for discussions. It is important not to start with a fixed agenda.
- Early work needs to be undertaken to overcome any 'cultural' issues that might impact on the way that groups and people work together - e.g. mistrust between sectors.
- Where there is limited community infrastructure, local people may need support and capacity building activity to ensure that they can influence decisions in an equal and informed way.
- Opportunities for involvement should be accessible, fun and widely promoted to ensure that all views are heard.
- The value of (small) 'early wins' should not be underestimated - it is important that the community see action being taken to reflect their aspirations.
- As the process moves forward it is valuable to have community events which maintain momentum and bring in the wider community.
Shared decision-making should drive the approach
- Strong partnership working is based on an open and equitable approach to decision-making.
- Experience using the Renaissance Towns approach has shown the benefits of facilitating meetings and events that are non-political and encourage stakeholders to leave their 'hats' at the door.
- It is important to get buy-in from local elected members and appeal to their role as civic leaders. Elected members, usually local residents themselves, can drive forward the shared vision for the future.
- A key issue is engaging the private sector and getting them involved in discussions. When looking at towns in a holistic way, stakeholders from the private and public sectors often recognise that they are facing the same challenges.
- A strategic plan for a town will have a stronger mandate if it is based on shared decision-making, consensus and results in collective ownership of the plan.
Build on strengths
- Approaches should build on local skills, knowledge and enthusiasm. Local groups and organisations should be brought into the process from the beginning.
- The approach should build on (often untapped) local resources.
- It is important to use community assets innovatively - for example, the Development Trust model is focusing on using community assets as a catalyst for regeneration.
- The process involves identifying the key strengths of the town to promote - key sectors of the economy, key attractions and elements that make the town unique. These elements may have been neglected over the years.
Regeneration needs to take a holistic approach
- A whole town approach and recognition of the impact of interventions is essential. It is important to recognise that regeneration in one part of a town will have consequences for other areas - eg environmentally and economically.
- It is important to think about the connections between different parts of the town - and how the town sits within its wider area or region.
Successful place-making is often about enterprise
- The Renaissance Towns approach requires local stakeholders to 'play to their strengths' and to look for new opportunities where they exist. There may be opportunities to rethink the way key assets and areas of the town are being used. Experience has shown the benefits of looking for opportunities beyond the 'obvious'.
- It may be necessary to rethink the town's economic model - what are the key challenges facing the local economy and where are its strengths? Are there particular aspects of the local economy we need to change (eg dependence on one sector)? Are there particular types of enterprise we should encourage?
- Recognising the current economic climate, it may be the case that recession is the ideal time to develop strategic plans for your town.
There should be a focus on building and sustaining quality environments
- The Renaissance Towns approach focuses on people and not physical improvements. But this still means that there should be a strong focus on delivering quality in the built environment. Public places should be designed and built to the highest quality with a particular focus on how well they work for people.
- Physical environments should work well for local people. They should be attractive enough to encourage people to visit or move to the town - and should encourage people to remain in the town.
- Successful regeneration means sustaining quality environments. There needs to be a long-term approach to ensuring that the town remains attractive and functions well for the changing needs of local people.
Long-term strategic planning needs to be sustainable beyond party politics and changes of administration
- The Renaissance Towns approach places the community at the heart of the process and aims to produce a long-term strategy to be taken forward and renewed over many years. A key issue is maintaining support from all relevant stakeholders in the long-term, despite changes of personnel and political leadership.
- Approaches to date have aimed to build consensus across political parties and encourage elected members to get involved in the process early. The approach has benefited from taking regeneration out of 'mainstream' local politics and made it an activity for the whole town to be involved in.
- The establishment of a strategic plan supported by the local community and a range of stakeholders may provide a lasting mandate as the local political landscape changes over time.
What next?
The Town Centres and Local High Streets learning network supports organisations and individuals to improve the way that Scottish towns are made more vital, vibrant and fit for purpose to meet the needs of the local community. It is led by the Scottish Centre for Regeneration, and links up with learning promoted by other parts of the Scottish Government.
The issues identified at this event will form part of a programme of activity for the learning network focusing on whole town approaches to regenerating Scotland's towns, which the Scottish Centre for Regeneration will deliver in partnership with Business Improvement Districts Scotland.
The learning network provides support and helps people to exchange information and ideas. This will include organising further events to share good practice; identifying and publishing information about case studies of good practice; and developing other opportunities for sharing experiences through study visits and action learning sets.
Join the learning network by visiting our website or contact Yvonne Gavan, Learning Network Coordinator, on 0141 271 3734.
Further information
Scottish Centre for Regeneration
This document is published by the Scottish Centre for Regeneration, which is part of the Scottish Government. We support our public, private and voluntary sector delivery partners to become more effective at:
- regenerating communities and tackling poverty
- developing more successful town centres and local high streets
- creating and managing mixed and sustainable communities
- making housing more energy efficient
- managing housing more efficiently and effectively
We do this through:
- coordinating learning networks which bring people together to identify the challenges they face and to support them to tackle these through events, networking and capacity building programmes
- identifying and sharing innovation and practice through publishing documents detailing examples of projects and programmes and highlighting lessons learned
- developing partnerships with key players in the housing and regeneration sector to ensure that our activities meet their needs and support their work
Scottish Centre for Regeneration
Scottish Government
Highlander House
58 Waterloo Street
Glasgow
G2 7DA
Tel: 0141 271 3736
Email: contactscr@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.partnersinregeneration.com
The views expressed in case studies are not necessarily shared by the Scottish Centre for Regeneration or the Scottish Government.
March 2010