Managed by URBED (the Urban and Economic Development Group) Changing
Places is a two-year programme to share experience on urban renaissance
and on projects that help to attract people back to live in urban areas.
Establishment of the Initiative follows the publication of URBED's
report for the DETR and Government Office for the South East (GOSE)
Living Places: implementing an Urban Renaissance in the South East.
With support from the DETR's Special Grants programme, and in
partnership with a range of other organisations, URBED is organising a
series of half day 'round table conferences' in different parts of the
country on topics of common interest. Each event will take place in a
location where innovations are under way. A Website bringing together
case studies and examples of good practice will back up the events. The
site will also 'signpost' practitioners to relevant sources of
information and advice.
While local authorities and developers are now happy to support the idea
of urban renaissance in theory, they often run up against a range of
practical problems on the ground relating to for example, highways
engineering, planning policy, local objections, marketability and
viability. In the face of officers and developers telling them that
mixed-use, sustainable urban development is not feasible, authorities
need practical examples from similar places to prove that it is
possible, but examples are few and far between.
Changing Places plans to fill that gap by using a combination of
Information Technology and Action Planning. It will disseminate good
practice on urban renaissance and on projects that help to attract
people back to live in urban areas, to the inner fringes, suburbs and
smaller towns. Events within the North West, London/South East, the
South West and the East Midlands will contribute to a wider campaign to
apply the principles of urban renaissance and sustainability to new
developments.
| 
