New developer tool shares insights into dynamics of Scotland’s towns

Understanding Scottish Places (USP) is a unique hub which shares insights into the dynamics of all of Scotland’s 508 towns.

For developers involved in all types of projects - from residential to commercial, public sector to third sector - it brings together information on not just population, but employment, public sector, commercial, house price and social data.

Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) and the University of Stirling refreshed all of the data on www.usp.scot with support from the Scottish Government.

They say their research underpins the need to better understand the constant evolution of places in order to improve them and enhance the national economy.

And they believe that the data - which crucially allows easy comparisons with other similar places - can give developers and development agencies who use it an edge in tailoring projects to meet local needs, increasing their prospects of success.

Kimberley Guthrie, STP’s chief officer, said: “USP supports developers - and place practitioners across the board - to understand how places across Scotland are similar, emphasising shared characteristics and opportunities to build knowledge on their local context.

“The data - and its comparison tool - often highlights unseen or unrecognised challenges and opportunities which can inform planning, management and policy decisions.”

The data for USP has the most recent census data as its foundation, but pulls in facts from a variety of other sources - totalling tens of thousands of pieces of data - to broaden the analysis available.

Kimberley added: “USP organises carefully evaluated, consistent and complete data sets to provide comparable data across all towns and is formed by three parts.

“It identifies a typology for each town and secondly, creates an assessment of towns’ inter-relationships and, finally, features Your Town Audit, a tool designed to help users gather local information which complements the national data available through USP.”

Statistics on the website are compared with those based on the 2011 census and other research which created the first iteration of the website, launched in 2014.

The latest statistics show:

• A net gain of 29 towns across Scotland (508 places with a population of more than 1,000, compared to 479 in 2014).
• That more than half of people in Scotland (53.8%) of people live in towns with a population of 1,000 and 50,000 people. 
• The emergence of “new” Scottish towns as well as the growth and reinvention of others, including those within commuting distance of major cities.
• New economic and connectivity developments - including railway links - driving growth.

Anne Findlay, a Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, led analysis of the data.

She said: “The statistics show that towns are developing in new and interesting ways, but USP also helps people understand how towns relate to each other. That’s important.”