Glasgow District Regeneration Frameworks – Phase 3

Glasgow City Council appointed a team led by Austin-Smith:Lord, working with Studio for New Realties and in collaboration with Urban Movement and a wider multi-disciplinary team to prepare four District Regeneration Frameworks; (Cowcaddens, the Learning Quarter, Merchant City and Townhead), the last four in nine regeneration frameworks for the city centre.

The plans will be delivered over the next decade through District Regeneration Frameworks (DRFs) for each of the areas, with recent public and stakeholder consultation (including involvement from over 4,300 people) helping to shape these. These DRFs are 10-year regeneration plans with a series of short, medium- and long-term actions that combine strategic planning and placemaking with shorter-term operational and environmental improvements.

The DRF Handbooks outline a range of projects to contribute to the following key moves and themes;
• Working with What We Have : by recognising the available space for change and alignment of existing policies, identifying positive uses for vacant and derelict land, prioritising retrofit and repurposing of under-occupied buildings.
• Distinctively Glaswegian Approach : seeking to fuse the city’s creativity to restore and reinterpret the city’s heritage, encourage innovation and support community-led local action.
• Repopulating the City Centre : improving quality of life for existing communities, whilst accommodating 20,000 new residents in the next 15 years to create compact, mixed 20-minute neighbourhoods in the City Centre.
• Creating a Dear Green Place : with clean green-blue infrastructure and nature networks connecting between the Clyde, the Canal and the Kelvin by improving existing parks and open spaces.
• Well-Connected City : with slow and low traffic neighbourhoods – safe child-friendly streets, continuous active travel networks for walking, wheeling and cycling and an integrated bus-subway-metro-train transport system.
• Great Streets and Spaces : extending the Avenues and restoring historic arterial ‘Great Streets’ across the City Centre and connecting surrounding communities.
• Thriving and Productive City Centre : with a diverse day and night economy that supports existing businesses, new enterprise and ways of working.
• Reinforce Alliances : between the major and leading educational, cultural and healthcare institutions clustered in NE City Centre to collaborate as a unique global alliance.
• Climate Neutral : extending the ambitions of the climate neutral Glasgow City Innovation District to develop City Centre-wide energy, smart infrastructure and digital networks.

The Glasgow District Regeneration Frameworks has been adopted by Glasgow City Council in 2023 and is already influencing delivery of community led regeneration and investment into that part of the city.