Spaces with meaning

Let me introduce myself and welcome you to the Policies for Places newsletter, and give you some idea of what you might expect to find on here.

For many years now I have been a social researcher and policy analyst working in local government and in central government in Scotland. Mostly I have been involved with policies and practice for effective social work services, community education and community development. Latterly, working with PASCAL International Observatory based at Glasgow University I have been engaged on studies of the links between higher education institutions and their cities and regions and on the concept of the learning city.

I have also served for a time as a member of a community council which is the bottom tier of local government in Scotland. A community council has the task of representing the interests and concerns of residents in relatively small areas within Scottish towns and cities to the attention of city authorities, particularly in relation to planning proposals but also on wider issues impacting on the quality of life in the locality.

In their different ways both of these strands are concerned with making better places, be it from the impact of national policies or from local responses to community concerns. So this newsletter will describe and assess policy initiatives both national and local, with the intention of stimulating discussion and, who knows, sparking interest amongst decision-makers to pursue these initiatives in their own localities.

I will aim to have at least one new post each week, drawing on my own thinking, but also on other publications and especially from comments and ideas from you the readers. It would be great if this can become an interactive exchange about ways of making places better.

Of course, there is no universally accepted definition of place. Most revolve around the idea of giving spaces meanings for those who live, work or visit there. Places can be small immediate neighbourhoods, or whole towns or even regions. Places continually evolve through the interplay of physical built environment, the characteristics of those living there and the impact of wider economic developments.

Successful place policies have therefore to engage with an everchanging entity. This presents real challenges in assessing policy relevance and impact. It depends on some notion of the quality of a place, and of its ‘placeness’ or even ‘placelessness’. It also depends on some understanding of how changes happen - what are the triggers?

All this and more is likely to feature here, so please join the discussion and invite others to do so too.