Community planning and placemaking

Community planning in Scotland operates separately from the planning system. It focuses on how public bodies collaborate with one another – and with local communities – to design and deliver better services that can bring real improvements to people’s lives.

This community-led approach is known as placemaking, and it aims to strengthen the connection between people and the places they share, improving public spaces so they feel welcoming, useful, and meaningful to the people who live, work, and spend time there.

While community planning focuses on services and outcomes, and placemaking focuses on spaces and experience, both share the same principle: communities should be at the heart of decisions about their places. When they work together, they help create healthier, more resilient and more vibrant local areas.

We actively support the Place Principle in Scotland to help create successful, sustainable places across Scotland. We also support Community Planning Partnerships and can provide services for plans to improve local areas. 

If you’re new to the planning system, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Organisations such as Planning Aid Scotland can offer guidance on planning applications and help you understand how to make your voice heard. 

If you’d like to get involved but aren’t sure how to start, we’ve put together an information pack to guide you:

Local councils in Scotland are legally required to prepare a Local Development Plan (LDP) for their area. An LDP is a document that outlines how towns and villages are expected to grow and change. It helps ensure that any new development meets local needs for housing, jobs, and services, while also preventing unplanned or unsuitable development, particularly in sensitive locations.

More about development planning and management

If you’re part of a community group, you can contribute to shaping your area’s Local Development Plan by creating a Local Place Plan.

Local Place Plans give communities a real opportunity to influence and shape development in their area. They provide a way to share your ideas about the changes you’d like to see.

Communities can use Local Place Plans to highlight the land and buildings that matter most to them. People value places for many different reasons, so it’s worth thinking carefully about what makes a particular site or location special to you.

The Scottish Government's "Our Place" offers further information on Local Place Plans, as well as guidance on place based working and how it can help improve quality of life.

Visit the Our Place website