Key trends that point to the need to use town centres differently include:

• Ageing population: As our population ages having a greater range of housing types that are easily accessible without reliance on cars or public transport could transform ageing and provide a more diverse social life in our town and city centres.
• Housing crisis: There is a shortage of good, well-designed and affordable housing – using our existing assets in town centres can help unlock more homes and create vibrant town centres.
• Change in retail: As our retail patterns change, we need to find other uses for our buildings in our town centres. Services and homes can form part of the solution.
• Biodiversity crisis: We are facing a biodiversity and climate crisis. Using our town centres for housing and services reduces the need to build on greenfield land.
• Climate crisis: The greenest building is the building that is already built. Through Retrofitting or adapting existing places we can give new life to buildings and provide energy-efficient, warm homes to a broad range of families and individuals.

In the next Place conversation, Architecture and Design Scotland will talk to the experts about how we need to work together across professional and physical boundaries to take a more coordinated approach to town centre living. The event will hear examples of where this has worked, and explore the challenges involved in transforming our town centres to be more desirable places to live.

Speaking about the upcoming Place conversation, Architecture and Design Scotland’s director of design, Heather Claridge, said: “We look forward to hosting a discussion on our town centres and how we can design them to become desirable places to live, work and socialise. We created this event to provide professionals working in the built environment quick access to the experts and provide another way that we can share learning from across Scotland.”

Speakers at the Place Conversation will be Claire McArthur, policy & strategy manager, Aberdeen City Council and Rory Kellett, architect and director of Threesixty Architecture.

The Town Centre Living and Investment Roadshow took place at the start of 2024. Inspired by the themes emerging from the series of events, Architecture and Design Scotland is looking to explore transferrable lessons from the roadshow with a particular focus on design. The Town Centre Living and Investment Roadshow was delivered collaboratively by Scotland’s Towns Partnership, Scottish Futures Trust, Architecture and Design Scotland and the Scottish Land Commission.

The broadcast will be hosted live on LinkedIn from 12:00-12:30.