Category: Engage • Inspire • Learn

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ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Integrating Climate Adaptations

Group of people discussing a design board

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.

Complete our feedback survey

Further Information

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: 

Useful Links

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.
  • Community Climate Adaptation Routemap touches upon a lot of the things discussed.
  • Climate Ready Clyde’s Climate Vulnerability Map is a great example of drawing together heat, flood risk and multiple deprivation index data to inform decisions.
  • Guide to Climate Change Adaptation by Design looks at specific ideas and case studies across household to street to neighborhood to catchment scales.

Specific projects mentioned and other useful links include:

About Constructive conversations

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.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

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

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Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

An Introduction to Gender Budgeting

Group of young women using busy city centre public space and station access
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.

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ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Eradicating Violence Against Women and Girls

Group of people discussing a design board

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.

Complete our short feedback survey

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: 

Useful Links

(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).

About Constructive conversations

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.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

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

Categories
ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Constructive Conversations – The Climate Emergency & Infrastructure collection

Aerial shots of people using Papdale East Park

Overview

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about sustainability in delivering active travel infrastructure.

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.

Past session recordings and information

Integrating PAS 2080 carbon emissions standards
creating climate neutral towns & cities
The Climate Emergency & Sustainable Procurement

Other series

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explored how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

Categories
Engage • Inspire • Learn News PfE

Refreshers on Financial Reporting

Bristol Hub Volunteering shoot 2023

In November and December, Places for Everyone partners had the opportunity to attend a webinar and Q&A with Colleen Trousdale, Grant Manager and Nico Jensen, Project Accountant at Sustrans.

In the webinar, recorded below, Colleen provided a refresher on the financial guidance and processes updated in the summer.

Slides – Financial Reporting WebinarDownload

Background

In the summer, Transport Scotland (TS) and Sustrans agreed new reporting procedures for project partners receiving funding via Places for Everyone.

As such, all partners are now required to provide monthly financial updates via the project portal for all projects, due by the last working day of each month.

You will need to provide the following information:

  • A forecast of total project expenditure for the next 3 months
  • Actual spend-to-date for the current financial year for the whole project
  • A forecast of the grant claims to be submitted each quarter

Having a clear, detailed and accurate picture of project positions allows the PfE team to make quicker decisions on use of that budget in year, reallocating budget as appropriate (to allow further grant awards and/or change requests to be progressed) and giving assurance to TS that the full budgeted award will be spent within the year.

Support

To support you with this, the PfE team has produced guidance which is now available on the Sustrans Scotland.

LINK TO THE GUIDANCE

Previous webinar: recording & FAQs

You can also catch up on the previous webinar delivered on this topic, from 12 July 2023. This was also delivered by Nico Jensen, who introduced the guidance, provided more information on the process and answered questions from partners. This page includes a recording, slides, and responses to questions from attendees.

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Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

CDM Guidance for Community Partners – An Introduction

Overview

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.

Presentation slides

You can download a copy of the presentation here.

CDM-Guidance-for-Community-Partners-An-IntroductionDownload

Competency Assessment

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.

Take the assessment now

Helpful resources

Health and Safety Executive: Summary of duties under Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

The Basics of CDM Regulations 2015 (video)

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Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Inclusivity and Creativity in Community Engagement: A PfE Perspective

New Malden Raynes Park Community Engagement Event to encourage local participation and ownership of route
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.

AGENDA
Speaker bios
learning & resource hub
resources

Agenda

🎟️ 09:30 – 10:00 – Arrival and Check-in
🎤 10:00 – 11:10 – Welcome and Keynote

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.

Presented by Johanna Boyd, Chief Executive at Planning Aid Scotland

Johanna Boyd – From Policy to PracticeDownload
☕ 11:10 – 11:25 – Break
💡 11:25 – 12:15 – Setting the Scene: Towards Change

We heard from speakers on two important themes: Inclusivity and Creativity.

Insights into Equity Diversity and Inclusion in Active Travel: Scottish and Global insights

Presented by: Rachel Goater (Engagement Manager, Sustrans) and Katherine Henebry (Senior Grant Advisor, Sustrans)

Insights into Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Active TravelDownload

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).

Setting the Scene: Stockingfield Bridge, GlasgowDownload
🍽️ 12:15 – 13:15 – Lunch
🎤 13:15 – 14:30 – The Changemakers
  1. 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.

Gail Murray – Bike for GoodDownload
Ian Buchanan – Disability Equality ScotlandDownload
Madhavi Latha Apparala -SCOREscotlandDownload

2. Unleashing Community Creativity

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.

The Causey Development TrustDownload
The Leven ProgrammeDownload
ArtRoots Funding in Scotland & Ardrossan MuralDownload
☕ 14:30 – 14:45 – Break
💡 14:45 – 15:55 – Workshops

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.

APIC – Insights into Engaging with TeenagersDownload
Workshop 2: Playing with Co-Design Methods

Delivered by Sustrans’ Co-Design Team, this practical workshop covered the principles of co-design.

Playing with Co-Design MethodsDownload
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.

Dealing with Difficult SituationsDownload
🎤 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:

Detailed Agenda and Speaker BiosDownload

Resources

Access key resources from the event:

Categories
ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Constructive Conversations – By Design Collection

Group of people discussing a design board

Overview

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.

Past session recordings and information

Eradicating violence against women and girls by design
Integrating climate adaptation by design
Preventing Child and Pedestrian Casualties By Design
Accounting for Diverse Accessibility Needs By Design
Strengthening Social Connections By Design

Other series

The ‘Climate Emergency and Infrastructure’ series of constructive conversations explored sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive conversations: the climate emergency & infrastructure collection

Categories
Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Engagement Workshop series, autumn 2023

Sustrans Scotland Pocket Places engagement in Shawlands, Glasgow.. A Sustrans officer and a member of the public looking at an information board.
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)
  • Engagement Planning (27 September, 10am-12 noon)
  • Equality Impact Assessments (4 October, 10am-12 noon)
  • Behaviour Change for Places for Everyone projects (25 October, 10am-12 noon)
  • Effective Communications Plans (1 November, 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.

Categories
Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

How best to engage businesses when delivering active travel infrastructure

Two children cycling on a cycleway in Glasgow with businesses in the background
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

Report

Report – How best to engage businesses when delivering active travel infrastructureDownload

Webinar Recording

Presentation Slides

You can download a copy of the presentation below.

Presentation slides – Engaging with BusinessesDownload