Placemaking now sits at the heart of almost all policy development and delivery in Scotland.  It is both an objective and a process.  However the cumulative resources needed to deliver effective placemaking across all Scottish project scales and geographies are significant.  Where, therefore, will the funding come from to match demand?  How do we reconcile the differing needs of both the public and private sectors?  What will it take to move placemaking in Scotland from planning to delivery?

Scotland is not short of projects with the potential to deliver successful placemaking.  However the objectives of the public sector and the challenges facing the private sector often conflict, threatening to limit placemaking at scale.  The public sector expects the highest environmental standards and quality of public realm, driven by the need to support sustainable and successful communities while driving for net zero.  Developers increasingly argue that development is now becoming too expensive to do with all the add-ons required by policy and sought during development negotiation.

Can the Scottish Government and the Scottish public sector put more resource on the table to draw the private sector into investing?  The public sector balance sheet is not strong.  Is it possible for Scottish Government investment to be more tailored, joined-up and coherent across sectoral, service and project boundaries?

This conference looks at what it will really take to deliver on Scotland's placemaking potential.  It considers the key factors to be addressed across national and local government and the role of other agents and players.  It reflects on the challenge of ensuring placemaking projects are not thwarted by silo practices in how budgets, policy and decision making are controlled by various partners.

The conference examines these challenges in three sessions:

This conference will take place online

Effective regulation in the public, private and third sectors is essential in guaranteeing the quality services and products Scottish consumers receive. However, public sector budgets are under threat. Private sector businesses are competing for consumers who have increasingly tight budgets. Third sector organisations face another period of acute funding uncertainty. How can bodies across all three sectors deliver compliance in regulation and scrutiny in challenging circumstances? The challenge is to comply with current expectations, prepare for what is coming next and still deliver what consumers expect. The question is, how?

This conference will take place online.

Emergency planning, resilience, business continuity and risk reduction are the activities we plan, practice and train for in the hope they will never be needed.  They mitigate the worst when it happens and bring assurance and stability when it does not.  However, the threats presented to normal order are magnified by local, national and international events which can bring instability to our own front door.  The consequences of globally linked economies in bad times.  The potential public health effects of diseases on intimately linked societies.  Open and interwoven digital worlds across national borders.  A destabilised international order.  Increasingly turbulent effects of climate change.  The impact of economic downturn on lower public investment and safety and quality outcomes.  Then there are the kinds of accidents and disasters which can occur in good or bad times.  So how do we plan for the unexpected, ensure that we learn from every opportunity, collaborate to maximise best practice and keep our emergency planning and resilience practitioners, and our responders at every tier, well-resourced and able to prevent and react?

This conference will take place online.

Planners, developers and communities are all anxious to secure a well-balanced national planning framework for Scotland following the implementation of NPF4.  However, a range of challenges lie ahead in meeting the demands around development planning and management, resourcing the planning system adequately and driving best practice performance.  This conference looks at the key themes flowing from the adoption and implementation of NPF4 and the roll out of supporting guidance.  It will also examine what all stakeholders need to know about what is happening now and what is coming next.

This conference will take place online.

The Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, Ministers and MSPs control legislation, policy and spending decisions directly impacting upon the activities of all organisations and people in Scotland. Informed, good decision making is important in good times, but absolutely critical in bad times. These remain difficult times. War in Ukraine, a weakened domestic and global economy, high inflation, volatile UK Government and stark consequences for public finances and public spending - all while still in the after effects of pandemic - require the best judgement. So, in the midst of wave after wave of uncertainty buffeting Scotland's public services, private sector and third sector, it is essential to understand how to effectively influence, inform and connect with the key decision makers as they respond to the challenges ahead.

This conference will take place online.