Pillars of the community: the transfer of local authority heritage assets January 2011June 2025 “Pillars of the Community”, drafted by URBED for government, serves as a comprehensive guide for the transfer of local authority heritage assets to community groups. It emphasises the importance of understanding the significance of these assets and the need for robust planning and management strategies. The publication outlines best practices for assessing heritage value, developing business plans, and ensuring long-term sustainability. It highlights the necessity of community engagement and the careful balancing of financial viability with cultural preservation. By fostering collaboration between local authorities and communities, the guide aims to enhance the stewardship of historic assets, ensuring they remain vital parts of local identity.
Moving Beyond Decent Homes Standard 2009: Creating the low carbon standard for social housing October 2009July 2025 This new Standard seeks to provide genuine equality of living standards for all social housing tenants. It aims to bridge the gap between modern social housing – some of the most energy efficient in the country – and the wider stock – still containing some of the poorest performing in the country. It also seeks to capture the wider benefits of investment, not just for tenants and their landlords, but also the construction industry as it gears itself up to deliver a low carbon transition in the wider housing stock. This is because social housing is in the best position to deliver greater carbon reductions, earlier and at lower cost.
Investing in the green recovery June 2009July 2025 The 2009 Budget heralded the prospects for city regions and for introducing “innovative financing mechanisms to support locally driven investment in growth and regeneration”. This paper summarises arguments for enabling county councils and unitary authorities to raise finance to achieve new (and “greener”) housing and local economic development in the right places through infrastructure bonds and “quality deals”. It builds on the pamphlet Funding Sustainable Communities, which reviews the options, and on recent research projects into US and European experience with infrastructure funding and regeneration.
Community Energy: urban planning for a low carbon future January 2008July 2025 This guide provides a practical vision of how our towns and cities can plan for the development of community scale energy. Local Government has a key role to play in coordinating action, making full use of planning powers and acting as pioneers and champions for the development of decentralised energy networks.
Growing Sustainable Communities: Management proposals for Northstowe, Cambridge August 2006July 2025 This report focuses on setting up a Local Management Organisation (LMO) for Northstowe, a new town project aiming to build a truly sustainable community.
Who runs this place? Learning from case studies December 2005July 2025 The report reviews case studies of recent housing developments, mainly in South East England, to identify successful management practices. It examines background, planning, management, sustainability, and community involvement, using interviews, site visits, and analysis of funding and governance structures to derive lessons applicable to Northstowe.
Spreading the benefits of town and city centre renewal July 2005July 2025 This report examines how town and city centre renewal can be effectively spread across regions, promoting balanced growth. It underscores the importance of coordinated efforts, strong local leadership, and strategic planning to ensure sustainable urban regeneration benefits all communities.
Strategies for Smaller Centres November 2004July 2025 This guide provides practical strategies for small town centres, tackling issues such as empty shops and connectivity. It highlights community engagement, vision development, and resource planning to create vibrant, sustainable centres. With case studies and actionable checklists, it supports local stakeholders in developing bespoke plans to revitalise and strengthen their town environments.
Biodiversity by Design September 2004July 2025 The aim of the guide is to provide guidance on how to maximise the opportunities for biodiversity in the planning and design of sustainable communities. The guide takes the user through the design process, presenting a toolkit of best practice that can be tailored according to the scale of the development opportunity.
Partners in Urban Renaissance October 2002June 2025 This Partners in Urban Renaissance project takes a close look at how urban areas in England are evolving to meet modern demands. It highlights that a sustainable urban revival is happening domestically, without needing to look abroad for inspiration. The report digs into what urban renaissance means, the challenges cities face like global competition and reversing urban flight, plus the different perspectives on how change is managed and driven. It also outlines practical steps and dimensions for success, including community engagement, transport, thriving centres, and more.
SUN DIAL initiative journal 1995-2001 July 2001July 2025 SUN DIAL was the journal of the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood Initiative. One of the recommendations to arise from our work '21st Century Homes' funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation was that we need models for urban environments capable of making our cities into humane, pleasant places to live. These we called sustainable urban neighbourhoods. The SUN DIAL initiative was supported by the DoE’s Environmental Action Fund and a well known charitable trust.
Living Places: urban renaissance in the south east September 2000June 2025 This report sets out a framework for the comparatively new concept of urban renaissance as it applies to the South East of England (excluding London) and gives examples, drawn from a range of towns in different parts of the region, which show what is already being done to help bring it about. It is primarily intended for councillors and officers in local authorities in the South East who are concerned about the future development of their towns. It should also be of interest to others involved in investment in urban areas and their professional advisers.
Tapping the Potential: best practice in assessing urban housing capacity July 1999July 2025 The report examines various urban capacity studies across the UK, highlighting methods to identify and quantify potential housing sites.
New Life for Smaller Towns October 1998July 2025 “New Life for Smaller Towns” by URBED serves as a practical guide for revitalising towns with populations under 20,000. It presents over 30 strategies across five key themes: enhancing shopping, diversifying attractions, managing transport, fostering community pride, and securing funding. The handbook emphasises the importance of local partnerships and well-researched strategies to attract resources and drive initiatives. Illustrated with more than 50 case studies, it offers insights into successful practices and encourages ongoing community engagement. Ultimately, it aims to empower towns to adapt to modern challenges and enhance their appeal to residents and visitors alike.
Tomorrow: a peaceful path to urban reform July 1998July 2025 To accommodate household growth within urban areas we will have to use every option available to us. This report suggests that it is feasible to aim for a 75% target for new homes in urban areas by developing a new agenda for the renaissance of urban Britain. This is partly about the physical capacity of urban areas but it is much more about our attitudes to cities and our willingness to challenge historic trends. At the end of the millennium the time is right to bring about these changes.
