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:
OBE
This blog was first posted in October 2016. Earlier this week I was honoured to receive the OBE for services to planning, at an investiture at Buckingham Palace. The award of the OBE was made in the Birthday Honours list in June 2016. The investiture ceremony that I attended was held at Buckingham Palace, and…
Delhi – Colonial Planning, Slums and Gated Communities
This blog was first posted in October 2019. Inside the slums and gated communities the opportunities and obstacles to sustainable and inclusive urban development can be seen. Spending a few days in Delhi as part of the Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods project has given me insights into the way urbanisation is taking place in…
Young Commonwealth planners win prizes
This item was first posted in September 2018. The Commonwealth Association of Planners has announced the winners of its Young Planners essay competition. The topics addressed by the winners were how to plan for better care of an aging population, and the nature of place-making. The Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP) have announced that Joanna Patton…
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…
Resilience of cities in the Global South
Resilience of cities is the theme of the latest issue of the French publication of Villes en Développement edited by my old friend Marcel Belliot. As the preface notes, resilience is now central to “approaches and strategies of governments partnering urban development and of funders.” It brings a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to understanding and managing urban development.…
Would you buy a Frank Lloyd Wright house to demolish it?
This item was first postedin June 2019. The Booth Cottage, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1913, which is in Glencoe, Illinois, could become the third of his buildings to be demolished since 2004. The 882 square foot cottage may be tiny, but it sits on a large lot in an affluent Chicago suburb, which…
Spatial Planning in Europe – the last 100 years
The European Council of Spatial Planners has just published a book to mark “A Centenary of Spatial Planning in Europe”. It is a compendium in which the Introduction is followed by 32 chapters that range far and wide in their concerns and approach. What does the book tell us about where planning in Europe has come from…
Reviving town centres
Look at your town centre as a network of gardens, a promenade, a stage and be prepared to be outrageous. This was the advice given by Julian Dobson to meeting of the Scottish Towns Partnership in Edinburgh. He stressed the need to challenge the existing narratives about town centres which are too often about decline and narrowly…
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…
Lessons in Community Planning from Australia
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 1 August 2011. The Localism Bill in England is creating new Neighbourhood Development Plans. The bill will also provide powers to communities to bring forward a ‘community right to build’. So this is a good time to distil key messages from experiences with community…