Cliff Hague

Cliff is a freelance consultant, researcher, author and trainer. He is the Chair of the Cockburn Association.

He is Professor Emeritus of Planning and Spatial Development at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

He is a Past President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and of the Commonwealth Association of Planners.

He is a past Chair of Built Environment Forum Scotland.

He was awarded the O.B.E. in the 2016 Birthday Honours.

Books

Some articles fromall categories:

Using spatial data to deliver better health

Here in the UK the General Election has seen numerous skirmishes amongst the politicians about the National Health Service (NHS). They bombard us with figues in unimagnable “billions” of pounds. However, I have not seen any debate about how to make use of spatial data to make the NHS better informed and more responsive to…

Read more

Amsterdam and AESOP 1987 (Part 2)

Local history and a trip to a Planning Committee meeting. The second part of my Diary as published in Planning on 11 December 1987. To read the first part of this article, please click here. The article is reproduced by kind permission of the editor of Planning. To seem more of my old columns in Planning, please go to the…

Read more

Geddes and Fellini – Place, Work and Folk

It is doubtful if the Italian film-maker Frederico Fellini knew of the work of the Scottish luminary Patrick Geddes – biologist, ecologist, sociologist, educationalist and planner. Fellini’s films have a strong sense of place, and of the relationship between people and place, which was an important theme for Geddes. I want to explore one of…

Read more

Bids invited for 900,000Euro research on planning in Europe

ESPON is inviting bids for seven new applied research projects, including one on comparing the spatial planning systems across Europe. The new ESPON programme has announced the first seven major research projects that it will fund. Amongst them is a comparative study of territorial governance and spatial planning systems in Europe. The brief points to the…

Read more

The 20 minute neighbourhood: trap or opportunity?

The idea of a 20-minute neighbourhood has been grasped by urban planners and designers internationally. Guest blogger Emeritus Professor Klaus Kunzmann casts a critical eye on the concept. Recently, the 15-minute city concept has found enthusiastic supporters among planners in Europe and beyond.  In Scotland’s Draft National Planning Framework 4 it is slightly adapted to be the…

Read more

Zlin – Conserving a classic of functionalism

Zlin is an outstanding example of a town inspired by 20th century functionalist architecture. This classic company town was a product of the Bata shoe company, its “home town” that the company then mimicked across the continents. It survived Communism, and now a finely balanced conflict is taking place between conservation and  consumer capitalism.  The…

Read more

Sri Lanka plans “Megapolis” to boost growth

The Sri Lankan government recently created a new ministerial post – Minister of Megapolis and Western Province Development. The brief is to oversee the creation of a huge urban area roughly 95 kms long with the capital Colombo at its heart. The $300billion project will involve new development and urban renewal on a scale never…

Read more

Cities for people to invest in – or to live in?

We are building cities to attract investment, not cities for people to live in, argued David Harvey, the distinguished geographer, speaking in Montevideo. Harvey argued that in times of economic crisis, one escape strategy has been to invest in the built environment, as a way to create opportunities for capital and to get potentially rebellious…

Read more

Participation?

How to have your say in the planning system. A scandal has broken out over a controversial decision by the English planning minister. As has been widely reported in the UK, the Minister, Robert Jenrick,  overturned the recommendations of the independent Planning Inspector and awarded a consent for a £1billion 1,500-apartment, 44-storey development in London.…

Read more