Cliff Hague

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:

Dark Age Ahead – Europe and the EU 2030

In 2004,  David Evers, Ed Dammers and Aldert de Vries wrote a “doomsday scenario” for a disintegrating EU in 2030. It was never published. It is now. David Evers, Ed Dammers and Aldert de Vries wrote this dystopian scenario in 2004 as part of their work in a spatial scenarios project exploring futures for Cohesion Policy. It…

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City Spread and New Neighbourhoods

This blog was first posted in October 2019. A major study of health, education and sustainability in rapidly growing cities poses some difficult questions for public policy makers. What kind of neighbourhoods characterise the rapidly growing cities of Asia and Africa, and how do they contribute to – or lead us away from – achieving…

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UK Launch of “Leading Change” book

A conference at the University of Birmingham on 22 March, 2018 on “Planning Challenges in the Commonwealth” was the venue for the UK launch of the book “Leading Change” My co-authored book, “Leading Change: Delivering the New Urban Agenda through Urban and Territorial Planning” had its UK launch at the conference “Think Planning – Think…

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Cross-border development – Learning from Newry-Dundalk

This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 11 April 2011. Across the world, administrative boundaries, and particularly international borders, are blocks to economic development,  management of energy and conservation of natural resources. Rivers flow across frontiers, where flood prevention measures differ. National energy policies and grids constrain efficiency. Small towns split by a border…

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Afghanistan’s urban population to double in 15 years

This was first posted in 2015. Around 8 million live in Afghanistan’s cities today, but that number is expected to double by 2030.Yet, like many other rapidly urbanising countries, it has no national urban policy, no housing policy, and local planning is weak. The country remains predominantly rural, with only 1 in 4 living in…

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Planning a Refugee Camp

In 2010 the Commonwealth Association of Planners held its first Student Essay competition. The winners were Jeremiah Atho Ongo and George Wesonga Auma. Their essay looked at the skills in Making Planning Work and their application in the undergraduate planning programmes at Makerere and Maseno, and in the planning of the huge Dadaab refugee camp…

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The Housing Market Crisis in Sun-Belt US Cities

his blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 14 June 2011. After spending a month in the USA (the reason for the lack of recent blogs) I have really begun to grasp the scale of the housing market crisis there.  The sub-prime US mortgage market triggered the global economic crisis in 2007-8.…

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Long-established Planning course to close

The closure of one of the oldest undergraduate Planning courses in the UK has been announced. The BSc (Hons) in Town Planning at Heriot-Watt University, one of the oldest undergraduate Planning courses in the UK, has ceased to recruit new students. The course had been under pressure for some time over concerns about recruitment. To…

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