Case Studies
There are many different ways place-based work happens: community led, professionally generated, focussed on one issue or all issues in a place. Each place has a unique context which means no two efforts will ever be the same.
Below are some examples of how effective place based working has been taken forward in projects across Scotland.
Cassiltoun Housing Association - Volunteers work their magic on local woodland
An award-winning group of volunteers in Glasgow have upgraded a local woodland. Cassiltoun Housing Association received a Community Active Travel Grant to develop its improvement work in the community, making paths more accessible whilst raising awareness of the routes.
Creative Dundee
Creative Dundee began as a blog in 2008 which grew into a social enterprise dedicated to better connecting the city of Dundee through advocating and recognising the incredible things that are made in Dundee, and encouraging an environment that inspires new collaborations to emerge. Today, Creative Dundee operates as a citywide network leading collaborative projects which generate local, national and international opportunities for people and the city.
Kinning Park Complex
Kinning Park Complex (KPC), refers to both an organisation and to a place - an old red sandstone school building - built in 1916. Following the closure of the school the building served as a Neighbourhood Centre for twenty years. Slated for closure in 1996, a group of the centre’s users and supporters began an occupation of the building.
Leith Late
LeithLate began as a one night celebration of Leith's creative scene in 2011 with an art walk along Leith Walk, highlighting local art spaces and sites of creative activity and ending in an afterparty at a local community venue. The purpose of the organisation is to celebrate Leith, provide a platform for local and international artists to showcase their work and to engage with local businesses to promote artistic activity in the Leith area.
Make Your Mark Charrette
The Make Your Mark Charrette invited local people in East Pollokshields and Port Eglinton in Glasgow to take part in a series of workshops and activities and contribute their views and ideas for the future of the area. Charrettes, also known as community-led design, bring together local people and a team of design professionals, who work collaboratively to create future plans through a series of events and activities held over a short time period, typically four days to one week.
EPAD Platform
epad.space is a free online database of rehearsal and meeting spaces in Edinburgh for performance artists. The site is a mechanism to maximise knowledge of appropriate spaces around the city, thereby making it easier for Edinburgh’s performing artists to create work in the city throughout the year.
Active Streets
Active Streets is a project aiming to improve the everyday journeys of people across the catchment area of Portobello High School in Edinburgh. With a focus on journeys to and from primary and secondary schools in the area, the project is built around actively involving young people in a highly creative process that helps them to shape ideas for their own journeys.
Craft Café
Craft Café has been operational for the last 11 years and reaches out to over 100 members aged 55+ in Govan, Glasgow. The project is proven to reduce feelings of isolation and vulnerability; improve mental and physical wellbeing, and reduce the pressures on primary and secondary care/health providers.
Getting Alongside Communities
People in Place works alongside nine communities in Scotland. Each with a dedicated Community Coordinator the programme centres on supporting local people to connect and work with one another - and wider partners - deliver community priorities and create positive change.
The programme also assists and enables locally-led actions by seeking out voices that are seldom heard and encouraging whole community participation.
Deveron Projects
Deveron Projects connects artists, community and place through a 50/50 approach that balances impact on both: the international art scene and the local community. Based in the rural market town of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, it works with artists from the locality and all over the world.
LIVE Park
LIVE Park is the Local Development Plan for Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. This 720 square mile area contains a number of towns and villages, and while conservation is a key concern for the park authority, there exists a need to think carefully about development opportunities that impact the more than 15,000 residents of the area. Live Park sets out a 20 year vision for development and is refreshed every 5 years.
Ochiltree Community Hub
Ochiltree Community Hub (OCH) is a community owned organisation established with the aim of reducing social isolation and improving health and wellbeing in Ochiltree, East Ayrshire. The organisation operates a purpose built community centre building, with meeting rooms, a multipurpose sports hall, and café, offering a range of events and activities to the local community.
Scottish Sculpture Workshop
Scottish Sculpture Workshop (SSW) is a unique, rural site of collective learning and inquiry set up to support artists in the research and realisation of their ideas. Through the workshop facilities, self-catering accommodation and curated programmes SSW enables the coming together of artists with other practitioners, creating a learning environment that fosters curiosity, play and experimentation.
Custom Lane
Custom Lane is a creative hub created to identify, support and celebrate emerging world-class design in Scotland. Located in the heart of Leith's historic scenic shore area - home to a diverse range of creative organisations, architects, production agencies and artists’ studios - Custom Lane is housed within a refurbished waterside building and its fully accessible ground floor comprises a café, shop, gallery, event space and workshops.
Re-imagining the Public Realm - A Walk in the Park with the Place Standard Tool
A simulation was carried out to establish the effectiveness of the 2015 version of the Place Standard Tool (PST) as a means of engaging local people in decisions about the role of food growing activities in an urban environment.