What is the modern Scottish town?

What do we mean by a town? or a village? or even a city? The meaning of these urban structures has changed and is changing. Where in the past these words may have meant the centre of a rural catchment, a market place, a centre of regional trade, the modern settlements do not necessarily carry the same meaning. Many town centres for instance are no longer the centre of the communities that surround them. In our modern, digital, mobile world, there are a range of highly complex relationships that conect people to people and people to place. It is as easy to connect across the globe as it is to connect to a local area. In some cases, the global connection is easier.

If the relationships that connect people and places are changing, how do we re-imagine urban places. They still have meaning because they still exist. The challenge is to excite and reclaim these places as places for people.

Herbert Giradet summarises the challenge in his seminal book 'Cities, People, Planet'; How do we create [urban places] of physical beauty and social and cultural diversity that are also environmentally and economicaly sustainable? How can we restore the pulsing heart of conviviality to our [urban places]?

Conviviality is central. We need places to be, to enjoy. It is the essence of being human.

Welcome to Scottish Renaissance Towns

Scotland has is a highly urbanised society. It has a rich and varied urban heritage. This legacy is evident in the streets, buildings and spaces that form the built environment of our villages, towns and cities. Not all have fared well however in our changing world. The reason to be for many towns has changed, or disappeared. Places have lost hope. The built environment has responded. Too many Scottish urban places are characterised by fading glory, deteriorated buildings and spaces.



It is time for a Renaissance of Scotland's urban places.



The Scottish Renaissance Towns Partnership was established to champion Scottish urban places and recover a sense of pride in this key element of Scotland's heritage, and Scotland's future. Neilston is the first Renaissance Town in Scotland. The Scottish Renaissance Towns model was discussed at a conference in Eastwood Conference Centre in Giffnock in June 2009. The conference addressed the broad theme of sustaining a legacy of positive urban communities in a sustainable urban Scotland. The conference culminated in the presentation of the first Scottish Renaissance Towns Charter to East Renfrewshire Council. More details on the Scottish Renaissance Towns model and the outcomes of the conference are available here.

The aim of this blog is to stimulate discussion on the issue of Scottish urban places, and provide a forum within which the range of possible futures for Scotland's urban settlements can be discussed. There can be a renaissance of urban Scotland.