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…
A new world order? Commonwealth Planners report
What are the issues that planners across the globe are grappling with? This week I attended a meeting in London of the Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP). Representatives from Africa, the Caribbean and Americas, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific, and Europe gave fascinating presentations. In the space of an hour we were given a kaleidoscope of planners’…
Territorial insight: Where to focus what types of investments
Territorial insight: Where to focus what types of investments: ESPON Results by early 2013, Second ESPON 2013 Synthesis Report (2013) https://www.espon.eu/topics-policy/publications/synthesis-reports/second-espon-2013-synthesis-report Co-author.
What makes a region attractive to its residents and visitors?
The idea of making your town more attractive has been central to the Trans-in-Form INTERREG project in which several IC members are partners. Now an ESPON Report from the “ATTREG” project has researched this project and published its findings. It points to the fact that some of the places that have been seen as being…
Territorial Dynamics in Europe: European Neighbourhoods
Territorial Dynamics in Europe: European Neighbourhoods, ESPON Territorial Observation No.11, (2014) . Co-author.
New post as Chair of leading urban conservation and planning body
This item was posted in May 2016. I am pleased to confirm that I will become Chair of the Cockburn Association in June, when the present Chair, Lord Brodie, steps down. The Cockburn Association is one of the oldest urban conservation and planning organisations in the world. It was formed in 1875 and has a distinguished history…
Community and film: Akenfield and Byker
Three contrasting films prompt important questions about the nature of communities, past and present, rural and urban. The word “community” is often invoked by planners and architects, but all too often with disregard for the realities. This week I have been to see three films that explore what communities are and how they function, while also…
UK projects
Planning Aid for Scotland Planning Aid for Scotland (now PAS) is a social enterprise that seeks to build active citizenship. Welsh Assembly Government UK projects while at Heriot-Watt University Cliff was part of research teams that delivered a number of practice-oriented reports for policy-makers. These include:
How and why the world fell back in love with planning
This blog was first posted in October 2016. The Habitat 3 conference in Quito this month is a critical opportunity to shape the practice of planning globally. After a long period during which planning was seen as an irrelevance or worse, the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2016-30 gave it renewed importance. Goal 11 is…
How China’s economic woes might impact on local government
This ws first published in 2015. China’s slowing growth and rising debts have sent tremors through global markets. Urbanisation has been integral to the near double digit annual growth over recent years, so what does the slow down mean for regional and local development within China, and in particular for the local authorities? When I…