By Design Constructive Conversations(20 December 2023).
What challenges does our changing climate bring to our public places? What adaptation measures exist that we can use to future proof infrastructure developments against the impacts of our changing climate? Our panel discussed these questions and more around how urban design elements can integrate innovative solutions into walking, wheeling, cycling, and public spaces design.
Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.
What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?
Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.
Feedback Survey
We would appreciate you taking a moment to complete our short feedback survey after you’ve watched the recording.
See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists. Some of our panelists have also kindly provided contact details if you would like to get in touch with them about their work in this area:
See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists.
The Papdale East Playpark project Janette talked about is a fantastic project, solving problems with flooding as well as providing a space for the community to come together to play and connect and travel actively through what was a previously waterlogged location.
Adaptation Scotland provides a range of advice and resources for anyone interested in integrating climate adaptation and climate resilience in their projects.
NatureScot is another Scotland-based resource for information on how climate measures can increase biodiversity through strategic use of green and blue infrastructure.
Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.
At each 1 hour session, our expert panel will spend half an hour discussing key questions and more around the chosen topic. Following this, you can take part in an optional small group discussion where you can share your own experiences on the topic, present a related issue in a live project, and receive advice and feedback from peers.
Other sessions
The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.
Look out for more series on different topics in future, and if there is a topic you would like to suggest for a series, or a standalone session, please do get in touch with us placesforeveryone@sustrans.org.uk
Group of young women and two elderly women using busy city centre public space and station access
Overview
Gender budgeting is a tool that can highlight how policies, investments and projects can impact women and men differently, therefore improving transparency and accountability. We explored this tool through a series of events outlined below.
An Introduction to Gender Budgeting
Gender budgeting is a way of analysing how budgets and spending decisions affect gender equality. It can take into account other characteristics that intersect with gender, like ethnicity, income level and disability, for example. The aim is to promote gender equality in budgeting and spending processes. Policies, investments, and projects that seem neutral can inadvertently increase gender and other inequalities. Gender budgeting is a tool that can highlight how policies, investments and projects can impact women and men differently, therefore improving transparency and accountability. The Scottish Women’s Budget Group delivered a webinar to introduce gender budgeting (what it is, why and how to do it), using examples from their work.
By Design Constructive Conversations- 15 November 2023.
How can urban environments and public spaces be designed in such a way as to make them feel, and be, safe spaces for women and girls? Our panel discussed how urban design elements can make women and girls feel safe, and be safe when walking, wheeling, cycling, or otherwise actively travelling or socialising in public spaces.
Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.
What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?
Feedback Survey
We would really appreciate if you could take a moment to provide feedback on this session.
Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.
Further Information
See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists. Some of our panelists have also provided contact details if you would like to get in touch with them about their work in this area:
Scottish Women’s Aid Equally Safe learning framework and the tools available to increase gender and VAWG competence & use of gender lens across policy/practice plus information and a resource page (The framework is aimed at orgs across public sector, local authorities, third sector.): https://womensaid.scot/equally-safe-in-practice/
(Note: The next two links take you to the City of Vienna website which is in Austrian German, a Chrome browser was better able to translate the pages than Microsoft Edge).
Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.
At each 1 hour session, our expert panel will spend half an hour discussing key questions and more around the chosen topic. Following this, you can take part in an optional small group discussion where you can share your own experiences on the topic, present a related issue in a live project, and receive advice and feedback from peers.
Other sessions
The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.
Look out for more series on different topics in future, and if there is a topic you would like to suggest for a series, or a standalone session, please do get in touch with us placesforeveryone@sustrans.org.uk
We invited Places for Everyone community partners to join us for this presentation outlining the CDM requirements for Places for Everyone projects, focusing on the stages 0-2.
The presentation provides some background into the CDM regulations and gives details of the (sometimes overlooked) CDM duties at stages 0-2. Information is also provided on how this relates to the Places for Everyone processes and detailing the support that is available.
Presentation recording
Kieran Ward, Construction (CDM) Manager, and Darren McHattie, Capital and Technical Advisor at Sustrans, take us through the presentation.
A short and optional questionnaire is available to community partners to help establish how confident you feel with regards to CDM regulations. This assessment is no longer mandatory.
New Malden Raynes Park Community Engagement Event used to encourage local participation and ownership of route
Event recap video
We brought together PfE partners, community members, engagement and other professionals from across Scotland for a full day of learning about community engagement through expert speakers, case studies, workshops and networking.
On this page, you’ll find all the information about the agenda, speakers, resources. Simply click on the headings below or scroll through to see the relevant section.
From Policy to Practice – The Journey to Meaningful Community Engagement
An overview of the policy context to community engagement in planning and how this can be implemented in practice. The session considered case studies from Planning Aid Scotland’s own work on inclusive engagement programmes with communities around the country, and discussed practical ways to approach community engagement, looking at some of the tools and supports that are available.
Re-designing the Future for Everyone – A Creative Approach: Learn about the value of small-scale public engagement that accesses a wide cross-section of the community, drawing on creative approaches that engender discussion and build community.
Presented by: Nichol Wheatley (Curator, Stockingfield Bridge, Glasgow), Louise Nolan and Ruth Impey (Artists, Make It Glasgow).
Inclusive Community Engagement – The View from the Community
This panel session showcased three organisations (Bike for Good, Disability Equality Scotland and SCOREscotland) who’ve made practical strides towards creating an inclusive community through engagement in active travel.
In this panel session, these organisations (The Causey Development Trust, The Leven Programme and Sustrans Artroots and Tragic O’Hara) discussed how community engagement helped them to take a creative role in developing active travel and community spaces.
Apply the day’s learnings and see them in action. These workshops provided attendees with practical takeaways.
Workshop 1: Young People and Engagement
A Place in Childhood recently undertook an important research piece on Teenagers and Public Space in Scotland, on behalf of Sustrans. The results have significant value across our sector both in terms of understanding the place-based interventions that best serve this age group, and the methods for meaningful and intergenerational dialogue on their needs as part of any engagement. In this experiential workshop, APiC shared what they found, and explored ways of enabling the effective participation of teenagers in your projects.
Workshop 3: Dealing with Difficult Situations – A Practical Approach
Room: Macphail Room
Delivered by Hannah Taylor, Sustrans’ Network Development Manager (Engagement), in this interactive workshop we learnt how to deal with challenging situations in a community engagement setting using discussion and role play.
🎤 16:00 – 16:45 – Closing Plenary: Transforming the City: The Ecology of the Inclusive City – Feminist Planning, A Case in Point
An introduction to the importance of inclusive cities through the lens of a feminist approach. Set in the context of transforming cities to be more equitable and accessible for all.
Presented by: Councillor Holly Bruce, Scottish Green Party
Speaker Bios
Read all about the speakers in our compiled list of speaker bios:
Community Engagement support templates including Engagement Plan, Stakeholder Map, EqIA Tool and Behaviour Change Plan (scroll down to relevant section)
Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.
This series of constructive conversations will explore how some of the big issues facing society today can be addressed ‘By Design’.
At each 1 hour session, our expert panel spent half an hour discussing key questions and more around these topics. Following this, participants were invited to take part in optional small group discussions where they could share their own experiences on the topic, present a related issue in a live project, and receive advice and feedback from peers.
Engagement session as part of Sustrans Scotland's Pocket Places programme in Shawlands, Glasgow
Throughout the autumn, we ran a series of engagement workshops for Places for Everyone Partners. Each 2-hour workshop covered a different element of the engagement process, including:
Stakeholder Mapping for Active Travel (20 September, 10am-12 noon)
Building Engagement Teams and Steering Groups (8 November, 10am-12 noon)
This series of workshops is now finished, but we plan to deliver them again at a later date.
This event is part of the Places for Everyone training and events programme – Engage · Inspire · Learn.
Past events
Stakeholder Mapping for Active Travel
20 September, 10am-12noon
We invite Places for Everyone partners to join us to find out more about the stakeholder mapping process in relation to Places for Everyone (PfE) projects.
The stakeholder map forms the foundation for your project and sets the scene for effective community engagement. This workshop aims to:
provide context to the PfE engagement deliverables required at stage 0-2
increase your confidence in identifing key project stakeholders
introduce participants to the Sustrans Stakeholder Matrix template
highlight the connections between this work and the EQIA process
provide examples of best practice in stakeholder mapping
This is an interactive workshop with plenty of time for discussion. If possible, please come to the session with information on your particular project – a basic outline, a map of the area, key places nearby such as shops, schools etc. This will be of use when we do an exercise in stakeholder mapping in the second half of the workshop. The Engagement Team from Places for Everyone will also be on hand to offer advice and answer any of your engagement related queries.
Engagement Planning – the core of engaging with your community
20 September, 10am-12noon
Community Engagement Planning is a key deliverable in PfE. This workshop will provide an in-depth practical focus on creating your community engagement strategy and plan of activity. This will include: an overview of the what and why of community engagement; how to plan your engagement, using the Sustrans Community Engagement Template; and case studies illustrating a variety of common community engagement techniques and methods.
The workshop aims to:
improve your understanding of the importance of community engagement
increase your confidence and knowledge surrounding community engagement planning
increase knowledge of engagement methods
encourage confidence and knowledge in effective reporting.
This is an interactive workshop with plenty of time for discussion. The Engagement Team from Places for Everyone will be on hand to offer advice and answer any of your engagement-related queries.
Equality Impact Assessments
4 October, 10am-12noon
This session will introduce attendees to the process of developing an EqIA, and give them the opportunity to put their skills into practice in activities using real-world and hypothetical scenarios.
The workshop will let attendees:
share experiences in the production of EqIAs
understand EqIAs and their role within Places for Everyone
understand the values that underpin a good quality EqIA deliverable
see case studies of best practice EqIAs delivered by PfE partners
try out the Sustrans EqIA Template.
This is an interactive workshop with plenty of time for discussion. The Engagement Team from Places for Everyone will be on hand to offer advice and answer any of your engagement-related queries.
Behaviour Change for Places for Everyone
25 October, 10am-12 noon
We invite Places for Everyone partners to join us for a discussion of Behaviour Change in a Places for Everyone context.
The workshop will help attendees to:
understand what behaviour change in a PfE context is
increase awareness of the importance of target audiences
increase awareness of relevant theories
increase knowledge and confidence around behaviour change planning and designing activities.
This is an interactive workshop with plenty of time for discussion, and will include information and case studies of best practice behaviour change in practice. The Engagement Team from Places for Everyone will be on hand to offer advice and answer any of your engagement-related queries.
Effective Communications Plans
1 November, 10am-12 noon
An effective communications plan is a key part of your project and the Engagement Plan deliverable in PfE. In this workshop you will:
assess the communication needs of different stakeholders
identify which methods and media are effective depending on the stakeholder and the context
learn how to disseminate information, attract participation and generate vibrant conversation
This is an interactive workshop with plenty of time for discussion. The Engagement Team from Places for Everyone will be on hand to offer advice and answer any of your engagement-related queries.
Building Engagement Teams and Steering Groups
8 November, 10am-12noon
This workshop will draw on examples of best practice in delivering impactful community engagement. It will use case studies to enable you to illustrate the importance of inter departmental and interagency working in creating a delivery team for community engagement. This will include how to involve voluntary sector and other statutory sector bodies.
You will also learn about how to develop a highly effective Community Advisory Group/Steering Group and understand their role and their opportunities and limitations. Meeting this deliverable will illustrate the value of including the community and inter-agency partners to support your equalities aspirations and engagement efforts; and drive forward; advocate for; and bring sustainability to your project.
This is an interactive workshop with plenty of time for discussion. The Engagement Team from Places for Everyone will be on hand to offer advice and answer any of your engagement-related queries.
Two children cycling along bidrectional segregated cycle route in urban area
Overview
What are the key challenges to engaging businesses when delivering active travel infrastructure? Are they more supportive of some schemes and interventions than others? How can local authorities engage with local businesses to cut through negative perceptions?
In this webinar, colleagues from within the Research and Monitoring Unit at Sustrans shared their findings and recommendations from their recently published report, ‘How best to engage businesses when delivering active travel infrastructure.’
Based on a survey and interviews with 83 businesses in Scotland and interviews with individuals who have experience engaging with businesses, and funded through Sustrans’ Scottish Research Programme, this report focuses on how best to work and engage with local businesses when planning and delivering new walking, wheeling and cycling measures.
This session will shared key takeaways about levels of support for active travel schemes, and how perceptions vary depending on the type of measure – from the most to least popular interventions. It will also share local businesses’ preferences in terms of channels and methods of communication
John Linton/Sustrans. E-Bike and Brompton. Pitlochry Train Station, Route 7.
Overview
We invited Places for Everyone partners to join us for this webinar, as part of the Places for Everyone training and events programme – Engage · Inspire · Learn.
The session introduced the Sustainable Travel to Stations Strategy (STSS) – Scotland’s Railway’s strategic plan to help make it easy, convenient, and safe for most passengers to get to and from railway stations without a car.
The vision of the STSS is to grow the number of journeys passengers make to, and from, local neighbourhoods to the railway station by healthy and sustainable modes of transport: walking, wheeling, cycling, on-demand transport, and the bus.
The need for close collaboration and co-creation between all stakeholders to integrate stations is pressing. This strategy sets out to propose a tighter alignment between planning and delivery at all levels.
Presented by John Lauder, Deputy CEO Sustrans on secondment to Scotland’s Railway, who is leading on the strategy, the webinar covered why the strategy has been developed, how it is being delivered and what that means for you.
Q:If I was to draw a 5km radius ‘as the crow flies’ around a railway station, a bike journey would likely take longer than that 5km journey. Do you have an idea of how much longer you would expect for that journey to be done by bicycle?
The 5km outlined is based on the active travel framework and the target utility cycle journey in Scotland is 4km, so we’ve extended that to 5km. But it’s a rule of thumb that I would expect local authority officers to adapt based on topography, density of housing, and other factors. By and large, that’s the approach we want to see upheld.
It’s all about context and that’s where the Local Authority, RTP and Rail need to work together. Let’s start thinking about how stations work for the wider community – let’s go beyond thinking about the immediate car park.
Q: What are the suite of pilot projects, and how have they been selected?
We don’t have a fixed suite of pilot projects yet. We are currently talking with a couple of local authorities and want to get those up and running as practical pilots. Now we also have projects which are very close to the point where they could go for funding applications. So we currently have projects in delivery, in development and in discussion.
If you have a project that you are enthused about, we would like to hear from you. When my secondment ends, a new email address will become available to send your ideas about station integration to, and this will go directly to the Strategy and Investment team. A Practitioners guide will also be released in the next few weeks.
Q: Does the strategy consider accessibility? For example, how do things like access to benches and toilets, that are necessary for some people to make that journey, fit into the strategy?
Our accessibility strategy which is coming out shortly, will cover that exactly – for example seats, signage, toilets, noise colours, surfaces, step-free access. The challenge is that a lot of stations are old and can be difficult to access. So there’s a lot to be done here. Part of the challenge will be prioritisation. The accessibility strategy will say that we need to up our game and improve our stations.
Q: What do you know about the people who travel by train and don’t fill out the survey? It seems Rail doesn’t know its passengers well enough.
There is a lot of work needed because Rail don’t know enough about how people use their services. This survey is basic, empirical data and we need much more informed data. The Passenger Experience team in Scotrail are beginning to do some work around profiling, and understanding the needs of their users better, but there is a lot of work to be done to get more meaningful conversations with passengers.
Q: How do you envisage the 5km “zone” being applied in a rural context, for example Aviemore or Pitlochry?
I would like to think that we can do more to have better services to stations by either bus or community owned transport where distances are big. So for example, Stonehaven station, the radius here for the travel to station distance is 40km. What can we do there to give people an option not to use their car?
To answer the question about Aviemore and Pitlochry, I would like to see better facilities for walking and cycling, better cycle storage, a better accommodation of electric bikes that type of thing there. The strategy is quite clear that there will be an element of parking requirement in rural areas. But there’s an issue there, about how rural areas currently provide some form of public transport or not, and how that can be tackled over the next few years.
Q: Will Scotland’s Railway work with Network Rail if there is a network rail bridge in the 5km radius which is a serious barrier to those cycling and wheeling (due to steps)?
I would very much hope that with the endorsement behind this strategy, the property team and also the asset protection team (who look at every proposal in and around the real estate and how will it impact on the safety of the estate) will look positively on this type of application. A barrier like this, making it difficult to get to the station, might just discourage people from taking the train. So this definitely needs to be tackled, and again, it’s why we’re saying we want Rail to think about 5km from the front door and we want local authorities to think about the station 5km from a development.
Q: Beyond the pilot projects, will there be yearly funding available for local authorities to apply for access to stations?
My understanding is that Transport Scotland will encourage projects being submitted to them that are transport integration projects, particularly station integration projects. I don’t think there’ll be a dedicated fund created. I think the expectation that this is a theme that will grow and develop over the next few years and we’ll see more applications coming in.
Q: For many people in a rural environment, it will be a 3-5km journey to the station and also on the other end. Can you say anything about the lack of capacity of bike storage on trains?
The positive is that ScotRail are currently consulting on a whole new fleet of trains and this decarbonisation programme is leading to a complete refresh of the entire rolling stock. So there’s an opportunity to see an emphasis given to much greater provision of cycle carriage that will be part of the tender that’s released.
Speaking from experience, my concern is the ability of Rail to be able to cope with demand because I think demand’s going to grow and grow to have carriage of cycles and trains. So that also questions the availability of good cycle parking, but also the availability of cycle hire at the other end as well. But this consultation on a new fleet gives us an opportunity for better provision for those using wheelchairs and mobility aids and those with a lot of luggage.
Q: Is there anything we can do in terms of phasing new stations,or improvements of stations, and integrating them around new developments?
There has to be much better provision, right from the start, that you can walk and cycle and get a bus in and out of the station. And it’s why I’ve highlighted the need for housing developers to begin thinking about how the housing development is designed around the station, so that it’s easy to get to the station from the get go. If we were following the infrastructure first planning principle, we would have the paths to the station long before housing is built. And that’s really what is needed.
Q: The West Coast trainline has dedicated bike carriages, which is great to see. Are there proposals to have similar facilities on wider networks or routes to make it more user friendly to get more cycles and wheeled vehicles onto trains?
I’m not aware of it, but as I said, the whole rolling stock for passenger services is to be refreshed, and it’s an opportunity to influence the decisions that are taken by ScotRail and the purchase of those trains. I would encourage you to participate in that wider consultation when it’s launched later on this year.
Q: John, do you have any key takeaways you’d like to share with the audience today?
This is a brilliant opportunity to think about the stations in your area and how easy they are to get to on foot by bike, wheeling and by bus. And it’s a golden opportunity to go to Rail and say we really want to improve this – how about it?
Because this strategy has been endorsed at the highest level, and we know more funding is becoming available for active travel, this is a great time to come up with a proposal to do something we’ve all wanted to do for a long time.
Woman cycling solo along segregated cycle lane by coast
Overview
Partner organisations from across Scotland – including local authorities and community-led organisations – joined us to hear about the essential Construction (Stages 5-7) deliverables, best practices and lessons learned from previous Construction projects, and to have a platform to ask questions and take part in discussions.
Simon Strain, Head of Programme (Grants) at Places for Everyone opened the session, acknowledging recent changes to the programme and how they are invaluable to creating impactful and successful active travel projects.
Introducing the deliverables and best practices
Marie-Claire Nyinawumuntu, Principal Engineer at Sustrans Scotland, kicked off the presentations, taking us through the essential deliverables, including hints and tips. She highlighted common deliverables to look out for including the Designer’s Risk Register, Permissions, Estimating and Procurement, and the Construction Phase Plan.
Michaela Jackson (Stirling Council) and Charlie Griffiths (Ironside Farrar) who were involved in Walk, Cycle, Live Stirling, described their experience of taking the project through the Construction stages.
Case Study: Penpont to Thornhill Safe Walking and Cycling Path
KPT Development Trust recently completed the Construction stages of this project, which will make it easier to walk, wheel and cycle between Penpont and Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway. Caroline Buck provided us with an overview of the project and lessons learnt.
Case Study: Grampian Road / Dalfaber Drive Junction
Neil Young from The Highland Council spoke about the recently constructed project in Aviemore, highlighting what went well and key learning points to consider for the future.
Questions and Answers
Q: When it comes to the tendering process of contractors, is it better to select a contractor that has constructed active travel infrastructure before?
There are definitely pros and cons and a contractor’s experience is something that you need to be aware of. What we would say is that we’re moving into situation where we’re seeking to deliver more and more active travel infrastructure annually than we have previously, and we’re going to need every contractor that we can to be upskilled in delivering these projects. So we wouldn’t suggest ruling out a contractor with no active travel experience, and be supportive of new contractors coming forward to learn about active travel infrastructure.
Q: For Walk, Cycle, Live Stirling, was the reception from the community largely positive? You also have quite a lot of competition for space outside Stirling Railway Station. Did you work with disability groups and receive feedback from people?
Michaela: We engaged quite a lot with Stirling Access Panel and have had some feedback since the opening regarding how the station connects to the taxi ranks and potential lack of signage. It’s an interesting lesson that you can have a really good project but without something like signage being implemented, this can cause it to fall down. This demonstrates how small actions make a big project work well.
Charlie: Generally the project is quite well received and people are interacting fairly well with it. Looking at junctions, there are so many different views on how people will approach a junction, but we hope that in time, everyone will know how it works and be used to it.
Simon: PfE encourages partners who’ve completed a project and have any concerns or improvements you’d like to make, then we are more than happy to receive requests for additional funding for Stage 7 to make small additional changes. Whether it’s something to do with the light sequence signage, putting a new dropped curb that you hadn’t foreseen was going to be needed… We’re happy to look at that and try and improve projects wherever we can. We work very closely with our Research and Monitoring Units to do as much monitoring as we can on projects to capture these impacts.
Q: If all works were grant funded, how did Stirling Council satisfy in-houseprocurement rules?
Procurement legislation only applies when buying in external services, there is still a requirement on local authorities to demonstrate best value which is done by assessing the roads services rates against other commercial bids / contract estimate.
