The University of the Built Environment has launched their new Place Building – Developing Homes & Communities report, advocating focus on more long-term targets
Long-term placemaking is the subject of the report, discussing how policy incentives, insights from the community, and innovation can lead to a boost in delivering housing targets and long-lasting communities.
The current approach to housing is comparatively considered to be fragmented, and focused on the short term.
Findings from the report include:
• Evidence for Long-Term Placemaking: New research demonstrates that well-designed ‘place built’ developments lead to better outcomes for residents. A joint study by Savills and the University found that communities with higher ‘place scores’ (measuring factors like green space, local amenities, and walkability) experience lower crime rates, improved health outcomes, better school performance, and higher overall wellbeing compared with conventional developments.
• Holistic Design: The report emphasises that housing development must integrate health, wellbeing, and sustainability considerations into planning. Rather than merely counting housing units, planners and developers should ensure each new neighbourhood includes the infrastructure and social amenities that allow communities to thrive, from parks and green transport options to schools and healthcare. Climate resilience and environmental sustainability are highlighted as core principles, as is the often-overlooked social infrastructure that knits communities together.
• Fiscal Reform to Enable Stewardship: A major barrier identified is the current fiscal and policy regime, which discourages long-term stewardship of developments. The report calls for targeted tax reforms to unlock large-scale place building; for instance, changes to Capital Gains Tax and Stamp Duty that would encourage landowners to participate in long-term development partnerships rather than sell land outright to volume builders.
• Innovative Regional Delivery Models: The report spotlights the Regional Building Hubs (RBH) concept – a new regional delivery model championed by The King’s Foundation to scale up place-led development. Piloted as a platform that connects smaller builders, landowners, local authorities and materials suppliers, RBHs would provide a mix of physical and digital support to enable locally led, high-quality development.
• Community Involvement in Design: Placing communities at the heart of development emerged as essential to successful place building. The report recommends moving beyond token consultations to genuine community co-design. Tools like community design workshops, collaborative planning ‘charrettes’, and resident advisory boards should be employed so that local people shape design codes, street layouts, and amenities from the start.
The report can be read in full here.
Enhanced technology for placemaking
Commenting on the report, Dr Wei Yang, former-chair of the Construction Industry Council and former president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, said: “The ‘Place Building – Developing Homes & Communities’ event reinforced the urgent need for a strategic, joined-up approach to sustainable place making. To create communities that truly thrive for generations, we must integrate spatial planning, design innovation and cross-sector collaboration rather than working in silos. By embracing digitally empowered spatial planning, we can deliver resilient, inclusive communities that meet present needs while anticipating future challenges.”
Writing for PBC Today earlier this month, Dr Yang discussed the use of digital technologies to improve placemaking for the public, writing: “It is essential to harness the transformative power of digital planning to advance the public good in practice. Good planning in the digital era is defined by putting public benefit at the forefront of decisions and actions. It is realised through the integration of science and art, evidence and empathy, technology and human judgement, and in the way planners engage communities in open, transparent processes that foster genuine dialogue and trust.”
Read Dr Yang’s full thoughts here.
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