June 2009, East Renfrewshire Council and partners hosted a conference on the achievements of Renaissance Towns in Scotland. Entitled ‘By the community, For the community’ the conference aimed to share a ‘how to’ approach to real, deliverable and effective local area regeneration based on the work done in Neilston and culminated in the presentation of the charter to the leader of the Council by the Neilston Town Team.
The conference delivered presentations and a plenary by a panel of experts and the Neilston Town Team on Scottish placemaking issues. The conference presentations and a short summary report of the proceedings are available for download as resources below:
Brian Evans
Brian Evans is an urban designer and planner with 30 years experience of contributing to strategy development, masterplanning and design. He is the Deputy Chair of Architecture and Design Scotland and co-founder of The Academy of Urbanism
Alan Simpson
Alan Simpson is Professor of Urbanism at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. He led the Yorkshire (UK) Urban Renaissance and Town Team Programs and has worked in several countries, with national and local government agencies, universities, community and business interest groups
Ian Gilzean
Ian Gilzean is the Chief Architect for the Scottish Government , appointed in 1999. He has previously been extensively involved in architectural education in Scottish Universities.
Alan Walker, Katie Robertson, Billy Sinclair and Steven Healy.
Alan Walker, Katie Robertson, Billy Sinclair and Steven Healy are all members of the Neilston Town Team
David Chapman
David Chapman is a director of Urban Design Skills. He is a registered town planner and has over 10 years' experience working on a range of masterplanning and regeneration projects.
Daniel MacKendry
Daniel McKendry is Principal Regeneration Officer in the Economic Development and Regeneration Section of East Renfrewshire Council’s Environment Department.
Stuart Gulliver
Stuart Gulliver is the Professor of City Development at the University of Glasgow. He has worked as an advisor to several city administrations, most notably as the Chief Executive of Glasgow Development Agency.
Pauline Gallacher
Pauline Gallagher work with the Neilston Development Trust along with several other development and building bodies. She has qualifications in architecture and town and regional planning, and has long experience of working with communities and an understanding of how the built environment looks to non-professionals.
Nick Taylor.
Nick Taylor is Scarborough’s Renaissance Manager, with Scarborough’s Future. He was previously a hotel manager in Scarborough.
By the Community for the Community
The Scottish Renaissance Towns initiative offers a new way of thinking about how we create places and how we deliver them. At the heart of the renaissance of these towns is the fundamental belief in the value of local empowerment. A need is recognised to empower local communities and release their latent skills, knowledge and desire to improve their towns as places to live, invest in and visit.
East Renfrewshire Council championed the delivery of the first Renaissance Town in Scotland at Neilston responding to years of campaigning by the community for a strategic, community-based place plan.
In June 2009, the Council, with Architecture and Design Scotland, the Scottish Renaissance Towns Partnership and Urban Design Skills hosted a conference on the achievements of Renaissance Towns in Scotland.
Entitled "By the community, For the community" the conference aimed to share a "how to" approach to real, deliverable and effective local area regeneration. The conference culminated in the presentation of the charter to the leader of the Council by the Neilston Town Team.
Blog
The Scottish Renaissance Towns Blog.
Plenary Session –the plenary group featured:
Russell Jones
Russell Jones, is Public Health Programme Manager at Glasgow Centre for Population Health, a research and development centre which works across the boundaries of research, policy, implementation and community life.
Ian Cooke
Ian Cooke is Director of the Development Trusts Association Scotland. He was previously the Manager of the North Edinburgh Trust and the Pilton Partnership and has extensive experience of community based work within an urban regeneration context.
Alasdair McKinlay
Alasdair McKinley, works with the Regeneration Division of the Scottish Government.
Liz Gardiner
Liz Gardiner is Director of Fablevision, which develops cultural planning approaches in various policy agendas. She serves on the board of Greenspace Scotland and Senscot, Scotland's Network organisation for Social Enterprise. She is the co-ordinator of the national cultural planning forum and has worked with numerous arts, regeneration and community organisations.
Tony Burton
Tony Burton was Managing Director of The Planning Exchange and is a member of the British Urban Regeneration Association Best Practice Committee and the Lighthouse. Tony was awarded an OBE in 1989 for services to planning and urban regeneration.
