Town Centre Toolkit

Town Toolkit unveiled 

The new Town Toolkit resource is full of tried and tested ideas to help your town centre, including recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Toolkit covers different topics: arts and culture, buildings and property, clean and green, enterprise and business, and streets and spaces. In each section you will find practical suggestions to help your town centre be active, attractive and accessible, examples drawn from around Scotland – and some international examples to help us raise our game.

Other resources such as information, guides and funding are also included.

Click here to access the Towns Toolkit. 

What Others Have Said...

Since the Town Toolkit's launch town stakeholders have given their views on how the new resource is useful for their work. Scotland's Towns Partnership is always on the lookout for feedback and ideas for how the Toolkit can be further improved, therefore please share any thoughts with us via our contact form.

It is important that our communities learn from other towns to overcome the challenges that can be faced in developing town centre initiatives, projects or redevelopments. The Town Toolkit highlights exemplar town centre projects and ideas from all over Scotland and is a useful tool for inspiration.

Audrey Michie, Service Lead, Sustainable Communities, Angus Council

 

The Toolkit is designed to inspire and support people seeking to make positive changes to their communities - all kinds of people and organisations, including enthusiastic amateurs like me, representing a local charity. We (Dementia Friendly Prestwick) provided a case study for the platform, showing the efforts we're making in our town to be more accessible, and "dementia friendly". Using real-world examples of streets, spaces and buildings, and hearing the stories behind the towns' projects, is a great way to stimulate meaningful change. We have worked with two towns since the Toolkit was launched, and their own dementia friendly projects. Thanks for sharing our story. 

Julie Twaddell, Director, Dementia Friendly Prestwick

 

Every town is different and ‘one size fits all’ can’t work. That’s why we’ve found the Scotland’s Town Toolkit so helpful: it's filled with a great range of case studies and you can take different bits from each to develop your own approach. We’re thrilled that Dumfries is now one of the ‘inspiration’ case studies in the new edition!’

Matt Baker, Orchestrator, The Stove Network, Dumfries

 

Original 2015 Toolkit

The Town Toolkit, produced in 2015, remains available. It contains useful information in relation to public realm design and master planning in particular.

Using the Toolkit

The toolkit is divided into three themes: Attractive, Active and Accessible. This recognises that town centres must be all of these things to offer a positive choice to people. The most successful strategies will incorporate aspects of all of these themes.

The 2015 toolkit also includes a section called Making It Happen. This is in recognition that to enable real positive change, engaging local people is fundamental.

Throughout the Toolkit, there are signposts to further information and related reading.

Download the Toolkit (PDF)