Placemaking guides and good practice

Over the past 10 years, an increased focus on placemaking and regeneration across the UK led many public bodies and campaigning groups to create placemaking initiatives. Many of these are available via RUDI, along with guidance on specific elements of the placemkaing mix.

Visit RUDI's extensive collection of best practice guidance

We've also created a quick list overview of the UK's most popular placemaking guides from recent years:

Placemaking 2008 (RUDI and the Academy of Urbanism)

A 96 page book (in pdf format) offering an overview of the main issues facing placemakers in 2008, with discussion, analysis and case studies. Print copies can be ordered from info@rudi.net

Urban Design Compendium

The Urban Design Compendium was published by English Partnerships in partnership with The Housing Corporation and examines the factors that make neighbourhoods stimulating and active places in which residents feel comfortable and safe. It aims to provide accessible advice to developers, funding agencies and partners on the achievement and assessment of the quality of urban design for the development and regeneration of urban areas. It is written to provide a source of best practice to all those involved in the regeneration and development industries. The Compendium was produced by consultants Llewelyn-Davies.

Manual for Streets, April 2007

New guidance on street design aims to breathe new life into communities by creating safe and sustainable environments for residents. Manual for Streets, a joint publication between the Department for Transport and Communities and Local Government, emphasises the importance of residential streets in the creation of places in which people want to live. In particular it aims to reduce the impact of vehicles on residential streets by asking practitioners to plan street design intelligently and proactively, and gives a high priority to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and users of public transport.

Cabe's public space guide, February 2007

It’s our space is a guide for groups getting involved in a public space project. It intends to inspire local communities to demand high standards of design. The guide includes a series of case studies which community groups can use to draw on the good and the bad experiences of others.

Spaceshaper is a toolkit aimed at anyone wanting to evaluate the quality of a public space - before they invest time and money improving it. The toolkit works by capturing the perceptions of professionals involved in running a public space, as well the views of the people that use it. The toolkit aims to raise aspirations, encouraging people to demand more from their local spaces.

Making Better Places, Oxford Brookes Joint Centre for Urban Design

Making Better Places is an inspiring learning package that focuses on the development of design and the built environment. It encourages students aged 16-19 to explore issues that are directly relevant to their lives. The material, developed by the Joint Centre for Urban Design (JCUD) at Oxford Brookes University, supported by CABE Education, supports the teaching of Geography and Citizenship.

By Design, 2000, Thomas Telford

This guide has been published to promote higher standards in urban design and provide sound, practical advice to help implement the Government`s commitment to good design, as set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 General Policy and Principles. It encourages those who influence and shape development decisions to think more deeply and sensitively about the living environments being created. Available on RUDI and Cabe websites.

Placecheck, UDAL, 1990s

Developed by the Urban Design Alliance in the 1990s, Placecheck is now in widespread use in communities throughout the UK.Placecheck was funded by a partnership of organisations including Government, and English Partnerships, together with voluntary effort by professionals in the organisations of the Urban Design Alliance.

Which places work?

Developed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) as part of its commitment to ‘inspire people to demand more from their buildings and spaces’, this site aims to address these questions through a new way of thinking about design quality. Aimed at teachers and schoolchildren.