Ireland and UK local authorities “Joining the Dots”, sharing best practice on the Future of Cities.
6 June 2024, Aberdeen
Today, 20 local authorities from Ireland and the UK will gather in Aberdeen to discuss the important topic of ‘The Future of City Centres’ and how relevant strategies can be applied to enhance the economic, and cultural development of cities and regions. The event, hosted by the Scottish Cities Alliance and Aberdeen City Council in collaboration with the British Embassy, Dublin and Connected Places Catapult, will identify the challenges and opportunities related to city centre recovery and the future of city centres. By doing so, they aim to strengthen economic ties and promote regional growth. Participants will engage in workshops and discussions to share best practice on how to ensure our city centres are the vibrant, connected, healthy and safe places that we need them to be for a sustainable, resilient economy.
This will be the 12th time the ‘Joining the Dots’ programme will convene. ‘Joining the Dots’ is a programme that promotes economic development in UK and Irish regions through the sharing of best practices by local policy experts. The aim being to identify common challenges, and then explore solutions and opportunities for innovation that drives growth. Beginning in 2018 the event has been hosted in over 10 different locations throughout the UK and Ireland, including Cork, Birmingham, Galway, Manchester, Liverpool and Belfast. This is the first Joining the Dots event in Scotland. On this occasion 13 local authorities from the UK and 7 from Ireland will gather in Aberdeen along with representatives from other agencies.
Last night, proceedings were kicked off with an event at Union Street in Aberdeen, which itself is the focus of city recovery. Gathered guests took in the Aberdeen city atmosphere while hearing from representatives from Dublin, Aberdeen, Liverpool and others discussing the important topic of the role of the maritime and ports sector in city growth.
Welcoming the participants to Aberdeen, Gale Beattie, Executive Director, City Regeneration and Environment at Aberdeen City Council said:
On behalf of the Scottish Cities Alliance partners, Aberdeen City Council is delighted to host the first ‘Joining the Dots’ event in Scotland. This will provide a focused opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the future of Scotland’s city centres with cities from elsewhere in the UK and Ireland.
City centres play a crucial role in supporting economic growth across Scotland, serving as hubs for businesses, people, and activities. In addition to providing an opportunity for Aberdeen to showcase work underway to deliver on the Aberdeen City Centre and Beach Masterplan, I look forward to learning about best practice approaches from elsewhere. This will help ensure Scotland’s cities are thriving environments, benefitting from agglomeration, clustering, knowledge spillover, and talent attraction.
Ahead of the event Alex Cousins, Director, Devolved & Local Government at the UK’s Connected Places Catapult said:
Connected Places Catapult are again delighted to be connecting places and people across the UK and Ireland to drive innovation and growth. The first ever ‘Joining the Dots’ in Scotland coincides with our establishment of a new role – Head of Scotland, with Simon Smith, and the impending release of a Green Shipping Corridor Feasibility Study between Liverpool & Belfast, building on the work of the Port of Aberdeen. The report sets out how civic leaders can work with their Ports to drive net zero and potential new roles for Ports as energy hubs and new skills providers for their places whilst decarbonising the maritime industry.
