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:
Cities of tomorrow – towers or tents?
Young people from Germany, Norway, Latvia, Poland, Russia and Scotland attended last week’s international youth summer school in Benmore, Scotland. The event was put on by Planning Aid for Scotland and by Innovation Circle. The theme was “Cities of Tomorrow”. I was asked to lead the introductory session. I started with a Powerpoint showing visions from 1913 and…
International report says planning denies Palestinians justice
Planning is being used in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Palestine to deny Palestinian communites fair opportunities for development. The practices undertaken in the name of “good planning” actually amount to a denial of administrative justice. These are important findings from an International Advisory Board of experienced planners that it was my privilege to chair. …
By Leaves We Live
How do you evaluate a landscape? It is a question that lies at the heart of decision-making on controversial developments in the countryside, such as wind farms or new highways. Since the 1970s landscape evaluation has become a very technocratic process, much to the frustration of many non-professionals who may care deeply about a place…
How setting national climate budgets obscure the need to really tackle the climate emergency
This item was first published in July 2019. Why is the French Government failing to meet its own goals on limiting CO2 emissions? A blog by Pierre Calame provides insights into why France is not meeting its targets on energy and the climate emergency. The messages apply to many other countries too. Calame points out that successive…
Temporary use of vacant spaces and buildings
Whether it’s an old church or the shell of a derelict factory, a gap site or an under-used parking lot, vacant land and buildings are a headache for planners and regeneration professionals. The impacts of vacany stretch beyond the site, creating a sense of decline and blighting neighbourhoods. Yet these left overs can be the…
Programmes! Programmes! Football and Life from Wartime to Lockdown
My new book looks at my life and times through the prism of football programmes. Programmes! Programmes! Football and Life from Wartime to Lockdown is a thinly autobiographical account of my generation who grew up in the aftermath of World War II. Football was central to my childhood and has remained a passion. Looking through my…
Metropolitan challenges and affordable housing
This blog was first posted in February 2020. After the pomp of the opening ceremony, the 10th World Urban Forum got involved in two critical issues. How to plan and manage metropolitan areas? An event organised by ISOCARP focused on this urgent theme. A range of leading figures from organisations that included the World Bank,…
Might territorial cohesion be the answer to the UK’s constitutional crisis following the Scottish Referendum?
Posted September 22, 2014 by cliffhague & filed Share The last week here in UK has been dominated by the referendum on Scottish independence. Although the “No” side won by a clear margin (55/45%) the issues behind the referendum have not disappeared, and now there is a political discussion at Westminster about devolution across the UK. Meanwhile, last Wednesday I…
Planning reform proposed in China’s growth strategy
This blog was first posted in August 2014. If you are 30 years old, then 260 million people have moved from rural China into its cities during your life time. This amounts to more than half of the current EU population. 117M moved in the decade between 2000 and 2010. Environmental pollution in many of…
National Planning prioritises Climate and Nature
Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework puts climate and nature centre-stage. The Scottish Government is seeking to “transform planning” by putting the twin crises of climate and nature at the heart of the planning system. National Planning Framework 4 is one of the first national-scale planning documents in the world to confront the urgent challenges of climate…