The Recap: A weekly update from Architecture and Design Scotland

Welcome to the Recap - a short biweekly update blog from Architecture and Design Scotland. This is based on our internal blog that is shared with staff and board members on Fridays. This blog combines weeks ending 8 and 15 November.

On Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 November, the Royal Danish Embassy hosted their latest Liveable Cities conference. The conference and related networking events looked at best practice from Denmark and Scotland in architecture and urban design. The event was held in both Glasgow and Stirling and examined four different aspects of great placemaking.

Day one took place in the splendour of Glasgow's City Chambers. Our Director of Design Heather Claridge led the session on ‘healthy buildings, healthy cities’ in the afternoon, following a wide-ranging session on inclusive design in the morning.

Delegates were then treated to a civic reception to round off the day, before heading to Stirling for a look at master-planning and heat networks the conclusion of the conference.

Following the conference, Heather's new blog post reflected on how urban design can positively impact public health and her key takeaways from the session.

We recently published an article focused on ‘The value of design within the regeneration of housing in Scotland’s town centres’.

Featuring four spotlighted projects from the Town Centre Living and Investment Roadshow conducted earlier this year, the article examines architecture and urban design’s crucial role in improving the quality of our town centres. These projects include: 

• Linen Quarter, Dunfermline 
• Shawlands Arcade, Glasgow 
• Housing at Buccleuch Street in Dalkeith and Primrose Street in Alloa 
• Aberdeen City Centre 

On Thursday 14 November, the third edition of The Pedestrian Pound was launched. Originally published in 2013 and updated in 2018, this latest edition broadens the evidence base for improved walking environments to include the benefits of happier and healthier people, stronger communities and a more resilient environment.

The research shows that people who walk or wheel to do their shopping spend more money, and pedestrianised high streets see bigger sales. These findings are brought to life with case studies from England, Scotland and Wales, along with international examples that show the value of walkable streets.

Heather, and Keith Gowenlock from our pool of design experts, contributed to the Scottish workshop held in April.  

In this new blog, Principal Design Officer Kate Given has shared her insight into the value that design can bring when working collaboratively to gather evidence for Local Development Plans.

“At Architecture and Design Scotland (A&DS), through our recent work with local authorities and key agency partners, we have developed and facilitated a pilot approach to local development planning using design thinking, methods and approaches.  

By applying design as a problem-solving tool at a strategic scale, we are helping partners build a collective understanding of the issues and opportunities that a local development plan needs to address for its places and communities through its evidence report.  

This partnership work demonstrates the value that design thinking can play in helping shape the planning and delivery of our future places to deliver on ambitious national policies.” 

The blog is now live on our website and available here.