This talk by Professor Matthew Carmona explores the soft powers of urban design governance as operationalised through a range of informal tools used by the public sector. It discusses findings in a new open-source book (Urban design governance, Soft powers and the European experience) which reveals how such means can offer an effective vehicle to build a culture of place quality and to more consistently deliver high quality design though place-shaping processes. By way of illustration, the softest of soft initiatives is discussed, the work of the Place Alliance, a university-led research and campaigning platform in the UK.