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:
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
