Urban renaissance is the process of improving the quality of life in our towns and cities. The South East Plan promotes an urban focus to development and the renaissance of urban areas to make the best use of the region's land and develop more sustainable patterns of living.

Focusing development in and around urban areas can bring many benefits, such as protecting the countryside, and ensuring the viability of services such as education, health, public transport and water and energy supplies. However, there is a need to ensure that new development in urban areas is of a high quality and appropriate to its surroundings, to ensure that towns and cities are places where people choose to live, work and spend their leisure time.

Quality of life can also be improved through better management of the land between urban and rural areas. The Regional Assembly (through the South East Plan) and the Countryside Agency promote co-ordinated planning to make better use of this land for recreation, environmental enhancement and sustainable development.

Project work

Managing Change in the Suburbs
Suburban renaissance is a South East Plan objective and the Regional Assembly is working with CABE and English Heritage on how to ensure a sustainable future for suburbs.

A number of seminars in summer 2006 explored suburban challenges and opportunities and investigated the best ways of managing change and delivering sustainable development. A  has been produced.

A high level policy seminar about the suburbs was held in October summary of the seminars2006, attended by Government representatives, academic and other experts and representatives from local authorities. This explored the outcomes of the workshops along with possible policy approaches at a national, regional and local level to help manage change in the suburbs.

South East Excellence

The Regional Assembly is a partner in South East Excellence, which aims to support the urban renaissance of towns and cities by raising skill levels and sharing best practice.

The links below provide more information on the Regional Assembly's urban renaissance work:

Publications
Links to documents produced by the Regional Assembly and other relevant organisations.

Urban Renaissance Advisory Group
This group has not met since September 2004. Minutes from past meetings are available on the Advisory Groups page.

Other Useful Links
Links to other organisations' websites that provide useful information on urban renaissance and the built environment.