• Levelling up local communities by recovering a sense of community, local pride, and belonging
• Empowering local leaders and communities, specifically for those places which lacks local agency
• Setting out the overarching aspects of the Levelling Up White Paper and frameworks for high streets
• Supporting local decision-makers in applying new framework and identifying areas of digital tools funding

• What’s the investor/developer view on future investment in high streets and town centres?
• The key ingredients for successful high streets/town centres
• What are the private sector looking for (in terms of behaviour, attitude, resources etc) from councils when it comes to investment?
• What makes a council more attractive to secure private sector investment in their area?

• Understanding how High Street Viability Index Tool will be beneficial to meet the ongoing needs of communities and ensure a sustainable, resilient, adaptable, and liveable place
• Ensuring the resilience of high street plan especially in the emergency context, such as the COVID-19 pandemic
• Helping place managers and leaders to develop new high street initiatives
• Transforming traditional view of viability by incorporating wider components to produce a more accurate understanding of high street
• Defining high street viability under new working/shopping patterns, health, education, and environmental indicators

• With a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in its town centres, the Borough is reshaping its urban landscape
• Newcastle is receiving almost £35m of Government investment
• Kidsgrove, whilst being prepared for its HS2 connections, is receiving £17m of Government investment to improve the economic regeneration of the Borough
• Hear from Simon, on the plans to make Newcastle-under-Lyme a destination of choice for residents, students and business with a well-connected town centre offering a wide variety of independent retailers and a unique blend of residential, leisure and cultural development

• How have UK high streets have fared thus far?
• European High Street Rankings - Deep Dive, Oxford Street
• Location intelligence for attracting and driving economic activity in your local areas
• Measuring performance and strategic decision making

• The session will include a presentation summarising the ‘Future of the High Street’ project, which combined citizen engagement and co-design with rapid prototyping, urban data and research. The aim? To better understand key high street challenges and opportunities, and pilot two small-scale 'tweaks' with potential to support the high street as a successful, vibrant and liveable place as we emerge from Covid-19. The project was delivered by the Edinburgh Futures Institute in collaboration with New Practice, and the Data Driven Innovation programme and Edinburgh Living Lab at University of Edinburgh in 2021
• Project findings regarding key challenges and opportunities for high streets, and the lessons learnt from small-scale rapid pilots
• Using public life studies, on-street interviews and observation, and working with local businesses, individuals, communities and organisations to better understand local high street places from a range of perspectives
• Findings from the two project case study high streets in the Edinburgh region focussed on during the project
• Shareable resources and project learnings helpful for high streets elsewhere in the UK

• Exeter’s Vision 2040
• Liveable Exeter
• Community engagement
• The future of Exeter High Street

• Gaining the knowledge of how to build strong partnerships around a community-driven town centre
• Involving local residents, businesses, young people and the local authority in developing ideas for high street improvements
• Learning how the people-centric perspectives can contribute to a thriving town centre
• Understanding the barriers to greater levels of community management and ownership on the high street

*Programme subject to change