Impacts of AirBnB regulation in New York
New York has long been a money spinner for AirBnB. In January 2023 there were 38,500 listings. As…
Planning a Refugee Camp
In 2010 the Commonwealth Association of Planners held its first Student Essay competition. The winners were Jeremiah Atho…
Kes Revisited – The welfare state and community in the late 1960s
Ken Loach’s film, Kes, was released in 1969. What does it tell us about life in a coalfield…
Place Identity, Participation and Planning
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Regional and Local Economic Development
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Cliff is a freelance consultant, researcher, author and trainer. He was the Chair of the Cockburn Association 2016 – 2023.
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:
The Changchun City Planning Museum: A Showpiece of Urban Planning and Branding
In this blog first posted in 2017, Guest blogger Klaus Kunzmann explores a museum devoted to the history of urban planning in a Chinese city. Klaus Kunzmann reports from China Urban planning enjoys high esteem among policy makers in China. This is perfectly demonstrated by an impressive new museum in the old industrial Northeast of…
Who are the losers in urban regeneration through mega sports events?
This blog was first published on the Planning Resource website on 7 March 2012. The use of major sporting events to drive development and regeneration has become increasingly controversial. Who gains? Who loses? Since the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona such spectacles have been widely seen as offering a unique opportunity to rebrand places and upgrade…
Making Europe’s Small Towns More Attractive
The figure of Hans Clauert is used in public art in the centre of Trebbin to brand the town. How do you make small towns in rural areas more attractive? This is the central concern of a Baltic Sea INTERREG IVB project that I have been working on. Trans-in-Form brought together partners from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland,…
Scotland’s Planning Bill – who will “frontloading” work for?
This blog was first posted in December 2019. The passing of the Scottish Planning Bill marks the end of a tortuous period, during which it even seemed possible that the Bill might be withdrawn, so heavily had it been amended. However, the conflicts that surfaced are unlikely to go away. What changes has the Bill…
Can innovation save town centres?
Town centres are dying. The economic crisis has highlighted the malaise. There are empty shops, as people head to the edge of town supermarket. Internet shopping replaces the trip to the store downtown. Prominent buildings once used for public functions such as town halls, post offices or churches stand empty too, as services have been…
New opportunities
For over 30 years EU programmes have supported students so that they can spend some time studying at a university in a different member state. Now a new ERASMUS+ programme opens such mobility opportunities to many others. The kind of youth camps that IC has delivered over several years would seem to be eligible for support.…
New possibilities for using scenario planning tools
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 24 April 2012. Scenario planning tools are increasingly being used in North America as means of community engagement. The state of the art is reviewed in a new publication that attracted attention at the recent American Planning Association conference in Los Angeles. The development of web-based GIS and…
Community Archaeology
This blog was first published on 27 February 2012, on the Innovation Circle Network site. Community Archaeology The Isle of Bute is situated off the west coast of Scotland. It is peripheral to the periphery, and has all the added problems that come with being an island. Unemployment is high, incomes are low, houses are…
Commonwealth and G7 finally recognise sustainable urbanisation matters
Within a week the G7 and the Commonwealth Heads of Government endorsed actions on sustainable urbanisation. A breakthrough for the Commonwealth The 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali agreed a Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation. This reflects 20 years of advocacy by the Commonwealth Association of Planners, amongst others. The Declaration recognises that ‘the long-term trajectory…
Plaudits and Problems: Planning in the Commonwealth
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 21 February 2011. It was great to see the Commonwealth Association of Planners given the President’s Special Award at the RTPI Awards ceremony in London recently. Retiring RTPI President Ann Skippers emphasised the work CAP does in supporting planners across the Commonwealth. She invited the audience to imagine…