Place Commission

The Place Commission report, led by Professor Brian Evans, Glasgow's first City Urbanist, has now been published.

Key Aims

The Place Commission had three key aims:

• To understand Glasgow, its people and places, and the challenges and opportunities which they and the city face.
• Take an independent view on the meaning and application of a 'place' approach.
• Be strategic in nature with its reflections, but with sufficient detail to support recommendations for action.

Approach

The Commission - made up of expert practitioners in architecture, design, economics, engineering, and public health - engaged with a range of key stakeholders in order to inform its approach, findings and recommendations. It drew together thinking on three different - though related - perspectives on Glasgow as a place: as an international city connected to global currents of trade, people and cultures; as a metropolitan city embedded in and drawing from a city-region; and as an everyday city where people live, work, study and visit.

Main Messages

A key feature of the report was the theme of 'People make places', with several case studies of successful place-based work in Glasgow and Scotland, with an emphasis on how projects succeed when people are at their heart.

The report invites city partners and communities to think about place in a different way, and has four main messages:

• Place is a key approach to addressing the climate emergency and meeting the city's commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
• There are strong public health dimensions to taking a place approach, which are essential in tackling inequalities and improving population health.
• These ways of looking at place and working differently need to be taken through a broader Glasgow City Region perspective.
• Delivery of such work should be informed by the experience of major project work (such as the Commonwealth Games and COP26) so that teams can be brought together, and any institutional barriers overcome.

Recommendations

Glasgow City Council is now considering the recommendations made in the report. Some of the recommendations include a Place 'Stock Transfer', the establishment of a Glasgow Place Bureau; and the development of Place Associations in the city.

The report's recommendations emphasise that a focus on place can enhance public health, tackle the climate emergency and build a better city for all. There is a strong emphasis on bringing partners and communities together, with the council playing a central role - with a view to embedding and progressing policy and practice through a place perspective.    

Next Steps

The key next step for the council and its city partners is to develop a response to the Commission's recommendations.