RETROFIT UK: Scaling up place-based adaptations to the built environment through the planning and development system

The aim of RETROFIT UK is to investigate how to ‘scale up’ place-based built environment retrofit initiatives through the planning and development system in collaboration with national and local project partners. We will examine a mixture of top-down and bottom-up place-based initiatives at different spatial scales in five local authority case studies across England (Bristol and Sheffield), Scotland (Glasgow), Wales (Cardiff) and N. Ireland (Belfast) where the interdisciplinary research team have well-established relationships with local authorities and other stakeholders. This approach also reflects our intent to compare national policy and local implementation. By focusing on ‘city-scale’ local authorities we can explore retrofit initiatives or ‘sub-cases’ across a large urban area, for example, a top-down urban intensification policy in a city centre, a bottom-up community greening project in an inner-city neighbourhood, or a top-down cycle infrastructure programme connecting suburban areas to the city centre, etc. Working with our partners, we will seek to identify how place-based retrofit initiatives might be coordinated and delivered across various spatial scales and in places with differing densities, morphologies and social, cultural and economic conditions.