The Scottish Renaissance Towns Initiative is a response to the challenges facing small-town Scotland.

There are a number of possible futures for our small towns. The most successful futures will be developed collaboratively drawing in local energy, capitalising on local assets, and distinctiveness.

The social, economic and cultural factors that shaped small town development have changed.

We need to start thinking differently and acting differently, re-imagining the 21st century small town. We need to re-engage with the process of townbuilding and town mending, transforming it for our time. We need to create a legacy of practice that can be handed down to the next generation.

The Scottish Renaissance Towns Initiative seeks to deliver on the potential of small town places, and to inspire fresh ideas and actions.

There’s a lot to think about, and a lot to talk about. Through our work on the ground, and the resources we share on this website , we invite you to join us in this debate.

The objective of the initiative is to enable communities to re-imagine their town, to capture a unique, design-led, long-term vision for its future and to build the skills and partnerships to deliver it.

The process works best in places where community and local authority will is established. This is important because an early appraisal of the town’s assets is needed, which would typically be undertaken by those who have been involved in town development to date.

The next stage is to generate wider community interest, identify key issues and sign up people from a range of backgrounds to a ‘Town Team’ who will steer the process.

This is followed by a workshop weekend, from which a charter is produced with the Town Team and the wider community.

The charter captures the vision for this place, and acts as a prospectus for policy and investment in the small town future. Once signed off by participants, the charter is formally presented to the local authority in a form suitable for adoption as local planning policy. The town team will have a continued involvement in securing the charter’s delivery, and so a legacy of the process is that those involved are re-connected to their place, and invested in securing its future success.

More detailed information on the initiative, its objectives, components and processes will be available here soon in brochure format.

Brochure

Check back soon for a brochure with more information.

The Renaissance Towns concept was initially developed at the Re-Making Cities Institute (RCI) at Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh Pa. and subsequently through the successful Yorkshire Renaissance Towns program. The work has championed sustainable urban regeneration through community driven urban design and place planning. The Scottish Renaissance Towns Initiative builds on this legacy. It connects the Renaissance Towns model to Scotland, our diverse urban places and environments, and our social, economic, political and cultural contexts. The Scottish Renaissance Towns initiative has been developed through a partnership comprising: