Toolbox
The Our Place Toolbox contains some key tools that can support you to learn, understand, assess and act to improve the quality of places.
Place Standard Tool
The Place Standard tool is a simple way for anyone to assess the quality of a place.
The tool provides a framework to structure conversations about place. It allows people to think about the physical elements of a place (for example its buildings, spaces, and transport links) as well as the social aspects (for example whether people feel they have a say in decision making).
The tool provides prompts for discussions, allowing groups or individuals to consider all the elements of a place in a methodical way.
Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods: Scottish Guidance
The Scottish Government published guidance on Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods on 25 April 2024 to assist planning authorities, communities, businesses and others to deliver local living.
It includes the Local Living Framework, key considerations, and useful case study examples to support implementation of local living, ensuring that daily needs can be met appropriately in a place. It is designed to complement tools and resources already available for placemaking and design, including the Place Standard Tool.
Town Toolkit
The Town Toolkit has been developed by Scotland's Towns Partnership, as a source of information and inspiration for anyone who wants to make their town centre better. Whether from a local authority, community group, business, social enterprise or other organisation – the toolkit contains a range of ideas that can be put into action to improve and enhance Scotland's towns.
The Toolkit aims to put Scotland's policy approach to town centres into practice. It shows how working collaboratively can deliver the ambitions of the Town Centre First Principle, the Place Principle and the Place Standard tool.
Place Value Wiki
Place Value Wiki is an online resource, developed by the Place Alliance, containing research and evidence that links the quality and design of place with the value added in health, social, economic and environmental terms.
The evidence held in the wiki is valuable to understand the impacts of place on a range of outcomes and to help make the case for investing in the quality of place.
Understanding Scottish Places
Understanding Scottish Places is a tool to help towns practitioners and communities better understand the function of the towns they live and work in. The platform primarily functions as a diagnostic tool, offering the opportunity to compare and contrast data about places across the country
The site organises data about all of the places in Scotland with populations higher than 1000, helping visualise how different towns inter-relate and how they depend on others around them for services and functions.
Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation
The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is a relative measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing.
SIMD data can help improve understanding about the outcomes and circumstances of people living in the most deprived areas in Scotland.
Young Placechangers Toolkit
The Young Placechangers toolkit aims to inspire young people to take the lead in their local community, to voice their opinions and help make positive change happen.
Full of place activities and resources which are inclusive, fun, and interactive, it gives youth workers, community groups and place professionals ideas on working with young people, including how to evaluate place, how to map your local community and how to influence the local decision-making process.