What does the future of our towns look like?

National body for Scotland’s towns calls for innovative designs

Across regions, networks of towns connect people and infrastructure at scale, they matter to the transformation of modern economies, but what makes a successful place?

The FutureTown Design Competition launches today (17 May) in the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh. Aimed at stimulating conversations and provoking ideas and new approaches to highlight what a possible future town could look like.  

Led by Scotland’s Towns Partnership, the competition asks anyone with an interest or role in their town centre to be creative and to sketch or photograph their idea for one space on the high street. It should be innovative and creative yet practical and should look to provide genuine potential for development within town centres in the future.

We all used to live in town centres, why can't we live there again? How can towns stimulate low carbon and sustainable living; encourage digital and enterprise; promote tourism, culture, health and well-being; deliver connectivity and economic growth and ultimately become places of opportunity and choice for all?

William Lippe Architects, FutureTown Design Winners 2015, will assist architect, Malcolm Fraser, Chair of the 2013 National Review of Scottish Town Centres, to launch the competition during the Towns Tea Party. Lippe’s winning design looked to restore and improve the connection between Inverurie’s iconic Town Hall and Memorial Garden by recreating the original Town Square between the two. A place to relax, reflect, enjoy the hustle and bustle of Inverurie’s busy, thriving town centre. A safe flexible space to use for Inverurie’s community events and markets.

STP Chief Officer, Phil Prentice said “During this Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design we are delighted to open the FutureTown Design Competition with William Lippe Architects and Malcolm Fraser today.  We all have a stake in the future of our towns and this is a great opportunity to share practical ideas that can assist us all to develop better places. I look forward to seeing a variety of innovative ideas for our towns in the competition again this year and wish entrants the best of luck.”