Celebrating Scottish design talent
Quality of place is central to achieving better quality of life for all citizens. Quality of place by design is at the heart of the agenda for Scotland’s Urban Regeneration Companies [URC’s]. Since inception, the URC’s have sought to deliver on the principles of good design set out in the Scottish policy document ‘Designing Places’. Working with the URC’s, the Regeneration Division of Scottish Government and Smith Scott Mullan Architects, A+DS have developed a series of case studies on this work to date. The purpose of the case studies is to highlight Scottish achievements by clients and designers in progressing a better understanding of what a good place is, and how to achieve it.
There are 8 case studies in total:
- Policy Contexts
- Learning Point
- Riverside Inverclyde URC
- Clydebank Rebuilt URC
- Clyde Gateway URC
- Irvine Bay URC
- PARC Craigmillar URC
- Raploch URC
‘Designing Places’ sets out six qualities of good design. The evidence from the URC case studies suggests six practicalities that are important to translate policy ambitions into reality. These practicalities span spatial design, organisational and delivery issues, and are summarised as follows:
- A placemaking culture matters
- Ownership and control of land matters
- The right team matters to achieve quality design outcomes
- A long-term view matters
- Community engagement matters
- Policy matters
In terms of the design issues specifically, the case studies identify that delivering better places requires a strong spatial framework and a range of quality design skills. The achievement of the URC’s highlights what can be done in Scotland with informed clients having the ability to procure quality design skills. It also demonstrates the ability of the design professions, architects, engineers, urban designers and landscape architects to creatively tackle challenging contexts and form high quality outcomes, value for money and places that people do want to be in. The built evidence in the URC’s demonstrated both a willingness to challenge the norm, and quality in the crafting of buildings and spaces. More can be achieved and lessons can be learned. However, a key lesson is that Scotland can, and does have the necessary design skill to deliver better places.
Speaking at the launch of the case studies at the ‘Delivering better Places’ conference in Edinburgh yesterday, A+DS Head of Urbanism Diarmaid Lawlor said ‘the URC case studies are an important point in time reflection on what is possible in urban regeneration through design. They seek to celebrate the skills we have and form a resource for policymakers and practitioners. Better places need good design. These case studies are part of our ongoing commitment to champion this agenda in Scotland, particularly highlighting the value of Scottish design talent and well-informed clients’.