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
Leading Change: Delivering the New Urban Agenda through Urban and Territorial Planning
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Some articles fromall categories:
Should gentrification be a concern for planning?
Gentrification is an issue in cities across the world, but urban planning systems are ill-equipped to deal with it. This blog was first posted in October 2016. When modern planning systems were first constructed, the word “gentrification “ did not exist. It was coined by the sociologist Ruth Glass in 1964 (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/ruth-glass-seminar). She explained how…
Scotland’s Living Heritage(s)
This blog on the inaugural lecture by Professor Máiréad Nic Craith, given at Heriot-Watt University on 29 May 2013, was first posted on the website of the Built Environment Forum Scotland on 4 June 2013. The appointment of Professor Máiréad Nic Craith to a chair in the School of Management and Languages promises to add…
Berlin, June 1989
A chance to read my monthly Diary in Planning from June 1989, which starts in Berlin just months before the Berlin Wall came down. It also looks at the Adam Smith Institute’s ideas for privatising streets – an idea that might be revived post-Covid19? Of course there have been many gated communities developed in the meantime. This was…
The State of China’s Cities
I have referred to Chinese urbanisation several times in these blogs, but make no apologies for returning to the topic. What is happening in China should be of interest to planners, urbanists, environmentalists and economic development professionals everywhere. In part this is because of the sheer scale of the changes – a rural to urban…
Nowa Huta – Town Planning and Heroes
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 28 November 2011. Nowa Huta was a showcase development by the communist government in Poland in the 1950s. Today, on a bright, cold central European winter afternoon, I took the bus from the old town of Krakow, and rode out to see the place…
Commonwealth, international and global projects
UN-Habitat Support to Palestinians at risk of displacement in Israeli Controlled Area C of the West Bank, 2014-15. Commonwealth Secretariat Developing Urban Planning Education, 2011. Managing urbanisation in small developing states, 2011. Hungarian EU Presidency The Territorial State and Perspectives of the European Union: Update 2011 http://www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/EN/SpatialDevelopment/SpatialDevelopmentEurope Department for International Development Making Planning Work, 2006.
China plans “sponge cities”
Faced with increased urban flooding, China is seeking to create “sponge cities” that can absorb water. China’s rapid urbanisation has been accompanied by increased rates of urban flooding. The number of Chinese cities affected by floods has more than doubled since 2008. While water management was integrated into traditional Chinese urban development, the last 40 years have…
Small towns – Where stories are told
Small towns are home to many Scots; they are places that contribute significantly to Scotland’s economy, identity and national well-being. They are of cultural importance: their buildings, streets and parks tell Scotland’s story. 2013-09-18 Beginning of September the Built Environment Forum Scotland launched a microsite on small towns and a report that I have written about Scotland’s small towns.…
Urban Resilience and South Africa’s metropolitan areas
This blog was first posted on the Planning resource website on 15 August 2011. The recently published report of the State of South Africa’s Cities makes extensive use of the concept of “resilience”. This is a theme that I discussed in a previous blog a couple of months back. However, as far as I know, the South…