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:
Why the CV19 pandemic is a planning issue
The global pandemic raises some important questions about the links between public health and planning. With whole countries shut down and a soaring death toll, there are signs that it will not be long before a debate about the trade offs between health and economies becomes heated. At the moment, the professional body in the…
How to tackle shrinking cities
Murmansk – a shrinking post-socialist city Shrinking cities are a focus of growing concern. Globalisation has increased the vulnerability of cities to sudden adverse changes in their economic base. Austerity policies augment the problems. Loss of a key economic activity, can be followed by net out-migration of economically active age groups, falling tax revenues, an…
Research shows link between green environments and physical activity
A wide-ranging review of the research literature reveals that living in an environment with plentful greenery seems to be associated with a number of indicators of good health. The study reveals what the authors say is “fairly strong evidence” that there is a positive association between greenness and physical activity. As well as having phyical…
Investing in Regions: Norway’s Rural and Regional Policy
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 19 March 2012. “One of Norwegian society’s strengths lies in the fact that we have economic development spread all over the country. This enables us to get the most out of our natural, cultural and human resources, and is how we have laid the…
How to save town centres
In smaller towns across the UK and many other countries, the town centres are struggling. Julian Dobson, has a barrowful of ideas of what to do about it. His book How to Save Our Town Centres is the best starting point I know for those who want to combine analysis with action. It is well researched, well-informed and…
China’s New-Style Urban Policy
This blog was first posted in July 2019. Urban Transformation and “New Style” Urbanisation in China was the theme of a major conference hosted by the University of Glasgow. In 2014 China launched its New-Style Urbanisation Plan (NUP). The Plan gave a new emphasis to environment and to the quality of urban development, and better…
WUF10 – Global Planning Aid
This blog was posted ahead of the tenth World Urban Forum, in Abu Dhabi 8-13 February 2020. Despite many endorsements ofthe idea for Global Planning Aid at the WUF, it proved not possible to raise the pump-priming funding required to set up a pilot project in Banjul, The Gambia. The CHOGM planned for 2020 was…
The global initiative for resource efficient cities
One of the positive outcomes to emerge from the Rio+20 summit last year was the UN Environment Programme’s Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities (GI-REC) In trying to plot a way towards sustainable urban development it aims to reduce pollution and infrastructure costs while improving efficiency in cities across the world. The GI-REC will work with local…
Community involvement in valuing and managing historic buildings and sites
This blog was first posted on the website of the Built Environment Forum Scotland on 30 January 2014. Community participation has increasingly been embraced by the heritage sector. However, there has been much less analysis and evaluation of what the concept means and what it achieves. An in-depth look at community involvement is therefore welcome. It…
Inauguration speech as RTPI President 1996
This was first posted in 2016. Twenty years ago I became RTPI President. Here is the text of the speech I gave to RTPI Council on my inauguration. It ends by reaffirming the manifesto published in 1975 by the Radical Institute Group, of which I was one of the founders. After thanking the RTPI, my…