To get the right answers
ask the right questions

to Placecheck

Placecheck is a method of assessing the qualities of a place, showing what improvements are needed, and focusing people on working together to achieve them.  At the centre of the method is a list of questions, the Placechecklist, which you can tailor to your particular needs.  Placecheck can be used by professionals or by private individuals.

You can start with just three questions

1. What do you like about the place?

2. What don't you like?

3. What needs to be improved?

You can also use the Placecheck in greater depth.  It is based on the very latest thinking urban design, transport planning, sustainability and community development.  Its structured questions will guide you. 

There is a huge amount of advice available on improving streets, town centres, on urban design and regeneration, and on the protection of the countryside.  So much that it would take months to read and digest.  What Placecheck does is translate this guidance into questions, a Placechecklist - to which you and others provide the answers - your own answers that best suit your particular situation.  The questions are set out on the Placechecklist web page, and can also be downloaded as a Word document, or obtained in printed form by sending an A4 SAE (£1 in stamps) to Urban Design Alliance, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ. 

How and when to use Placecheck

Use Placecheck as a means of gathering people together to create ideas and energy to make improvements and protect things of value.  A Placecheck can start small: with half a dozen people round a kitchen table, or a small group meeting on a street corner; or a Placecheck can be big, contributing to a local authority's plans and strategies. 

On the next page you will find out more about the Placecheck method and the Placechecklist, (which can be used for practically anything), plus techniques for using Placecheck in residential streets, and in the countryside.  Placecheck can be used by members of the public, parish councils, neighbourhood groups or by professionals.

Go to next page - How to Placecheck

Credits

The core Placecheck method was written by Rob Cowan and developed under a funding programme managed by Dan Bone, on behalf of the Urban Design Alliance with funding from the DTLR (now ODPM) and English Partnerships.

The Placecheck for Rural Routes was produced by Robert Huxford, Wendy Otter (Countryside Agency), and John Thackray (Ramblers Association and ICE).  It draws on best practice guidance for countryside access and conservation developed over many decades.

The Street Placecheck system was developed by a team of volunteers including Matthew Thompson, Rob Cowan and Robert Huxford working in close association with TimeBank and BBC London.