AN independent study into how Glasgow can be redesigned to make the city a better place to live has been launched.

The Place Commission, to be led by Glasgow’s City Urbanist, Professor Brian Evans, will look at how the city can plan its places to put people first and prepare for future changes as best it can.

Organisers say the project can be seen as an ongoing conversation with the city’s communities, developers and designers to consider how the built environment can best respond to and serve the new ways in which we live.

Meetings of commissioners will take place over the next year, with a draft report being handed to Glasgow City Council next summer, and final proposals made public next September ahead of the United Nations' climate talks at the SEC in December 2020.

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A number of other independent experts will join Glasgow's City Urbanist, with the local health board's director of public health, Dr Linda de Caestecker, the chair of Landscape Institute Scotland, Rachel Tennant, and architects Jude Barbour and Charles Campion among the commissioners.

However, Professor Evans also emphasised the importance of involved communities in the process.

He said: "This was a mechanism to find a way to start a big conversation and try and find some degree of consensus amongst the institutions and people of Glasgow about how they want to improve the quality of their place and their lives.

"It won't happen quickly, but hopefully we can help the city develop some ideas about what we agree about and what we don't.

Glasgow Times:

"The evidence we will take will be as much from community organisations as it will experts. The question is, can we recover some of the grey space, and turn it into greenspace so we can enjoy it and improve our everyday lives.

"Changes don't have to be huge, but if they all join together they become huge.

"If you work with people, they will work with you. We have some talented and creative designers trying to achieve something."

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The project was launched during the final day of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) conference on City Living, held at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Similar to the Connectivity Commission, which published results on revolutionary transport solutions in Glasgow earlier this year, the Place Commission will gather views from a number of experts to build a blueprint for the city.

Councillor Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "Glasgow is a city still very much in transition, one which is barely recognisable from the post-industrial Glasgow of just a couple of decades ago.

Glasgow Times:

"The physical transformation of so many of our neighbourhoods, our riverside, parts of the east end and the ongoing work at Sighthill and the city centre through the Avenues project is testament to that change.

"But with still much to do I’m delighted that a panel of such esteemed independent experts can help support our city’s development as a people-focused city which is s a great place to live, work and visit.

"We also face changes – from how we adopt to the climate emergency to the impact of technological advancement. The findings of the Place Commission will guide how we prepare for these changes and develop a Glasgow that can continue to prosper in the future – whilst taking our people with us."