Revive our Town Centres
A network to rethink and revitalise town centres and high streets
Revive our Town Centres is a forum to share information and take action to bring our high streets and town centres back to life.
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From 'me' towns to 'we' towns
Posted by Julian Dobson on November 21, 2012 at 12:58 0 Comments 0 Likes
Lou Reed famously sang that there was only one good use for a small town. When you grow up in a small town you 'grow down' - 'you hate it and you know you'll have to leave'.
But something interesting is happening in many of our small towns: something that many larger places, still in hock to cloned aspirations of economic development and an institutional inertia that appears to believe the development boom of the last decade will return, have yet to…
Is the Retail Lobby Trying to Hijack the Portas revolution?
Posted by Julian Dobson on July 7, 2012 at 16:04 0 Comments 0 Likes
Guest post by Martin Blackwell
Thursday 05 July 2012
originally posted on the ATCM website www.atcm.org
Since the not-for-profit ATCM was founded in the early 90s, we have worked with hundreds of locations around the UK, and overseas, to support people and communities in shaping environments to make town centres better, where local people feel a sense of ownership, and visitors are made welcome and business can thrive.…
Speakto offer helping hand to Portas pilot losers
Posted by Chloe Goddard on June 18, 2012 at 13:35 0 Comments 0 Likes
High street gurus SpeakTo are offering an hour’s free consultancy to town centres that have missed out on the £1.2 million pot of Government cash to rejuvenate their shopping areas.
The town centre consultancy has been inundated by enquiries from disappointed high streets in need of help.
From Holyhead to Herne Bay town centres have contacted SpeakTo expressing their frustration about losing out on the Portas pilot money, wanting help now to capitalise on the work already…
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Back on the Scottish High Street
Posted by Edward Harkins on June 5, 2012 at 9:49 0 Comments 0 Likes
I think that some members here, especially from Scotland, will be interesetd in a lively, but informed, discussion I have instigated on High Streets in the RTPI Scotland Linkedin discussion group (You do not have to ne an RTPI member to join that group). It follows the publication last week of a 'Vulnerability Index' that is an attempt to measure vulnarability and lay out the town centres across Scotland that are most at risk of literally dying in the face of the recession. The aspects of…
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Introducing High Street Camp: a practical response to the Portas Review
The Portas Review made a number of recommendations for changes at government level to promote our town centres as lively, thriving and economically successful places. But for government action to be effective it needs to learn from and be inspired by local action.
There are many imaginative, enterprising people taking action across the UK to bring life back to our town centres. However there are few forums that bring them together in an informal environment where they can exchange experiences and experiment with new ideas. That’s what High Street Camp is about.
High Street Camp takes its model from the ‘unconference’ or ‘BarCamp’ format popular in the technology world, where developers get together to share and test new applications. There are now BarCamps for local and central government, for the built environment, for individual cities and much more. Many of these have a technological bias but organisers increasingly recognise that it’s the application of technology in the real world, not just the development, that’s of wider interest.
High Street Camp aims to use the BarCamp environment as a way of bringing together people who are developing new ideas for town centres - from different approaches to shopping to rethinking town centres as green places, business hubs, learning environments and much more - including, of course, new applications of technology. High Street Camp is for anyone with an interest in successful town centres, whether you’re from local government, retail, property management or community organisations. Technophobes are welcome.
The purpose of High Street Camp is to share and record new thinking and inspire people to take action. The emphasis is on discussion and generating ideas, not on hearing speeches. People can choose the subjects they’re interested in, and at the end of the day groups come together to present the results of their discussions so everyone knows what’s been discussed.
The other thing that’s important about High Street Camp is that the presentations are reported and recorded so others can find out what’s happened. There will be discussions via social media, from LinkedIn to Twitter and Facebook, and we would encourage people who come along to blog their thoughts and ideas - the aim is to share them as widely as possible. We’ll aim to bring these all together on a website linking to the material produced at the event and attendees’ own blogs and websites.
If you’d like to help make this happen or just want to be kept informed, please keep in touch. While High Street Camp will run on a shoestring, it will need some practical resources: food and drink, a venue, wifi, flipcharts, reporters and more.
High Street Camp is being organised by the group that submitted the ‘21st Century Agora’ proposals to the Portas Review, with the help of others who identify with its vision of multifunctional, people-powered town centres. Details will be posted on the Revive Our Town Centres network and elsewhere as they develop.
We’re working towards a date in late April or early May for a one-day event, and we’re looking for a central London venue. For more information and to join in, contact Julian Dobson via this forum or email julianATurbanpollinators.co.uk
Add a Comment
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Comment by Julian Dobson on February 28, 2012 at 11:10 -
Thanks Dave - really appreciate this and it would be great to discuss further. I'll email you and hope we can have a chat soon.
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Comment by Dave Briggs on February 27, 2012 at 22:59 -
Oh, and might be able to help with funding if you need it - the GovCamp event generates a surplus of sponsorship cash that can be used to fund similar public-service events, and I'm sure this would fit the bill.
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Comment by Dave Briggs on February 27, 2012 at 22:58
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Would love to attend this and happy to help get involved - have organised a few 'camp events in the past, including the annual GovCamp in London.
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Comment by Julian Dobson on February 13, 2012 at 19:01
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Thanks for the comment, Jean - you're more than welcome! Watch this space for more details.
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Comment by Jean Ball on February 10, 2012 at 16:56 -
I like the sound of this 'High Street Camp' and would like to be kept informed.
Can't offer a venue, or sandwiches, but can offer 10yrs experience as a TCM wih plenty of case studies to talk about.
© 2013 Created by Julian Dobson.
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