Essential Reading
Welcome to the Towns Library, please feel free to browse the headline titles below from supporting organisations. If you feel that your organisation can add to the library, please contact us for STP’s consideration. Please also see a list of key 'Knowledge Partners' on towns at the bottom of this page.
Aberdeenshire Council
Architecture & Design Scotland
Town Centre Living: A Caring Place Report (2019)
Case Study: Place Standard and its use in Alloa by Clackmannanshire Council (2020)
Association of Town and City Management (ATCM)
Implications of Brexit for Town & City Centres Across the UK & ROI
Releasing the Social Business Economy (July 2020) [Learnings from Purple Flag for the post-COVID landscape]
ATCM, RICS, RTPI and IED
Brighter Futures Report: A Brighter Future for our Towns and Cities
Built Environment Forum Scotland
Historic Environment Policy for Scotland – A Summary (2019)
Carnegie Trust UK
COVID-19 and Communities Listening Project: A Shared Response (2020)
Digital Participation And Social Justice In Scotland
Journeys of Understanding: Domestic twinning as an approach to improving town capacity and wellbeing (2019)
New Powers, New Deals: Remaking British Towns after Brexit (2018)
Public views on the enabling state – Report Summary
Turnaround Towns UK (2019)
Carplus Scotland
Annual Survey on Impact of Car Clubs in Scotland
CoMoUK
CEIS et al
Building a New Economy: Scotland's Vision for Social Enterprise 2025
Community Development Alliance Scotland
How Community Development Happens - Why Stronger Communities Matter
Special Bulletin on 'Place' and Community Development (March 2019)
Community Ownership Support Service (DTAS)
Managing Risk in Community Asset Transfer (December 2020)
CSPP (Centre for Scottish Public Policy)
Creating Confidence & Changing Futures in Scotland's Towns
Town Centre Regeneration: How Does it Work & What can be Achieved?
How to Prepare a Strategy for your Town
Department for Communities and Local Government
Destination Digital Ltd
Cupar Now Digital Improvement District: Case Study, Toolkit & Programme Update (August 2020)
Didobi
‘Creating Better Towns’ Aide-Memoire (2019)
Creating Better Leaders Aide-Memoire (2019)
Economic and Social Research Council
British High Streets:from Crisis to Recovery?
Federation of Small Businesses (Scotland)
Transforming Towns: Delivering a Sustainable Future for Local Places (August 2019)
Great British High Street
The Digital High Street 2020 Report
Grimsey, B. et al
Grimsey Review COVID-19 Supplement Report: Build Back Better (June 2020)
GVA James Barr
Scottish Town Centres and Retail Trends
Heritage Council Ireland
Strengthening Ireland-Scotland Collaboration on Town Centres (Workshop Report - December 2019)
High Streets Task Force
High Streets Task Force Resource Library
Inspiring Scotland
The Practices, Impact and Implications of Inspiring Scotland’s First Five Years
Keep Scotland Beautiful
Report: Time for a New Approach to Tackling Litter (December 2020)
Kevin Murray Associates, University of Dundee, Scottish Government
The report 'Shaping better places together' marks a first attempt to investigate the role and significance of facilitators in participatory community design processes and aims to enhance the output performance of this increasingly common type of design event.
Local Data Company and Institute of Retail Studies, University of Stirling
2015 Scottish Retail Report: Retailing in Scotland's Largest Towns & Cities
2016 Scottish Retail Report: Retailing in Scotland's Largest Towns & Cities
2017 Scottish Retail Report: Retailing in Scotland's Largest Towns & Cities
National Library of Scotland
E-resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NHS England
Healthy Towns Programme: Executive Summary and Learning Principles (September 2019)
Read also: Creating Healthy Places: Perspectives from NHS England’s Healthy New Towns programme (King's Fund, September 2019).
NHS Health Scotland
Places and communities that support and promote good health
Industrial Communities Alliance
Places with Purpose: The Future of Industrial Cities, Towns and Communities (2018)
Planning Review Panel
Empowering Planning to Deliver Great Places
Resilient Scotland
Stepwell: Reinvesting in Inverclyde
RFM - Retail Factsheets
Maximising Revenue Opportunity
Sales and Marketing Plans for Small Retailers
RTPI Scotland
"Poverty, Places and Equality: A role for place based approaches?" - Lecture by Naomi Eisenstadt, Independent Advisor to the Scottish Government on Poverty and Inequality on Wednesday 7 June 2017 in The Lighthouse, Glasgow.
SCDI - Scottish Council for Development and Industry
Rural Commission Report: An Economy for All of Scotland (September 2019)
Scotland's Towns Partnership & Related
Sparks, L. (2019). Towns and Town Centres in Scotland: Reflections Six Years on from Fraser
Sparks, L. (2016). From the Scottish Government’s National Review of Town Centres to the World Towns Summit
Briefing: STP and the Towns Policy Agenda in Scotland
Scotland's Towns Partnership Digital Towns Guidance
Understanding Scottish Places: An Introduction
The Future of Shopping Centres in Scotand's Towns [Revo, STP and DWF LLP] (March 2019)
Submission to the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland (May 2019)
Scotland's Towns Partnership Event Reports (links to Wakelet)
Scottish Government
Core Policy Documents
A New Future for Scotland's Town Centres (2021) [Independent Report - Town Centre Action Plan Expert Review Group]
The Place Principle: An Introduction (2019)
Town Centre Action Plan - Two Years On
Town Centre Action Plan - One Year On
Town Centre Planning Pilots Programme - Case Studies and How To Guides
National Review of Town Centres: External Advisory Group Report (2013) (Fraser Review)
Further Reading
Creating Places: A Policy Statement for Architecture and Place for Scotland
Review of Planning: Scottish Government Response
Realising Scotland's full potential in a digital world: a digital strategy for Scotland (2017)
Coronavirus-related
Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on safer public spaces - urban centres and green spaces (June 2020)
Scottish Land Commission
Transforming Scotland’s Approach to Vacant and Derelict Land: Recommendations from the Vacant and Derelict Land Taskforce (October 2020)
2020 final reports by Biggar Economics to inform guidance that would provide a framework for measuring the wider benefits of land re-use:
- The Case for Change: A New Approach to Assessing the Benefits of the Productive Reuse of Land
- Guidance on Assessing the Full Economic Benefits of the Productive Reuse of Land
- Reusing Vacant and Derelict Land: Case Studies
Vacant and Derelict Land Task Force - Phase 1 Report (Ryden, June 2019)
Scottish Small Area Statistics
Scottish Small Area Statistics
Scottish Retail Consortium
Retail Pay and Benefits: January 2017 Briefing
Scottish Small Towns Group
Scottish Small Towns Report (2007 – 2013)
Social Renewal Advisory Board
If Not Now, When? - Social Renewal Advisory Board Report (January 2021)
SURF - Scotland's Regeration Forum
SURF Cross Sector Connector- Shared Learning Report (Feb 2021)
Showcasing Community Resilience Series (2020)
A series of special SURF e-bulletins showcasing positive examples written by organisations delivering services or providing support to communities across Scotland, whilst the country navigated through the Covid crisis.
Covid-19: Lessons from the Frontline (2020)
Covid-19: Building Community Resilience (2020)
Sustrans Scotland
The Good Economy
Business-led Inclusive Growth in the South of Scotland (July 2019)
The Stove Network
Embers - Creative Placemaking For the South of Scotland
Threesixty Architecture
A Vision for High Street Regeneration (October 2019, Final Version May 2020)
Town Centre Action Plan Expert Review Group
A New Future for Scotland's Town Centres (2021)
Transform Scotland
Overview of National Transport Strategy Debate
Urban Transport Group
About Towns: How Transport Can Help Towns Thrive (Nov 2018)
Urban Economy Forum
Urban Economy Forum 2020 Resolution (October 2020)
Visit Scotland
Visitor Research & Tourism Statistics
What Works Scotland
Knowledge Partners
Scottish Library and Information Council
The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) is the independent advisory body to the Scottish Government on library and information services.
Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling
The Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling is a leading academic centre for retail research and education, providing independent, academic and practical research as well as commentary on retail matters of the day.
ATCM (Association of Town and City Management)
The Association of Town and City Management is the largest town and city membership organisation in Europe. They have a number of valuable reports, support programmes, events, guides and toolkits, some of which are free and open access.
ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland)
ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) to help people find and share information about services and community assets that support health and wellbeing. ALISS enables citizens and communities to work collaboratively with organisations and professionals, to gather, add, manage and share information about the assets that exist in their own local areas in order to help others find support more easily. To search for support in your community or to get involved, visit www.aliss.org
Read more about the ALISS Programme: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/digital/aliss/
FSB (Federation of Small Business)
Our towns are made up primarily of small businesses and the Federation is the key membership and lobbying body. FSB works closely with STP and has valuable research and reports.
Kantar Worldpanel
Kantar Worldpanel provide leading consumer panel and shopper insight information as well as trend data and marketing reporting and analysis.
The Local Data Company
The Local Data Company is a leading retail location data insight provider. They provide detailed reports on openings and closures, vacancy data and provide gap analysis amongst a host of other valuable services.
Scottish Retail Consortium
The Scottish Retail Consortium is the trade association for the retail sector. In partnership with KMPG they produce the Scottish Retail Sales Monitor. SRC lobby on behalf of Scottish retailers and provide valuable economic evidence and key facts.
Springboard
Springboard offer retail intelligence and insight. They also have milestone and benchmarking along with a host of valuable data gathering services, reporting and analysis.