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:
2021 Awards for Planning in the Commonwealth
Calling all planners in the Commonwealth! The awards are administered by the Commonwealth Association of Planners. They have been running since 2018 and have attracted some impressive examples of the work of planners. The first winner was the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement in New Zealand. The project showed how risk in relation to natural hazards had…
Civic concern in Edinburgh over World Heritage Site
This item was posted in 2017. The proposals for the hotel at the Royal High School were refused plannng permission and the refusal was upheld at appeal. Citizens in Edinburgh are voicing concerns at the way the capital city’s built environment and greenspaces are being managed. A staggering 3,188 objections have been lodged in opposition…
Stockholm My Love – the redemptive potential of a city
This review was first posted in 2017. A new film reflects on Stockholm’s modernist architecture and public spaces, showing how experiencing places can contribute to wellbeing. The cinema has made icons of some cities. The global reach of Hollywood means that we are all familiar with the streets and suburbs of Los Angeles or the…
Why do we need to mainstream the historic environment?
Why do we need to mainstream the historic environment? http://www.befs.org.uk/news/84/49/Why-do-we-need-to-mainstream-the-historic-environment/d,Blog 25 November 2013
Land grabs target schools in Kenya
Ruthless developers are literally undermining a Kenyan school in an attempt to capture the rights to valuable land, alleges a priest with wide experience of the country. Most new development in Kenya is informal. Land piracy has long been a significant factor in urban development. Schools have become especially vulnerable, so much so that in…
Best ways to enhance Edinburgh
I gave the Cockburn Association annual lecture in Edinburgh on 27 October 2016. I have now written it up and you can read it. The Cockburn Association was formed in 1875 and can claim to be the oldest civic association in the world. It is a pleasure and an honour for me to be its Chair and…
Importance of public spaces highlighted in run-up to Habitat III
Public spaces are integral to healthy and prosperous cities. This was the theme of a major conference last week in the run-up to next year’s Habitat III global summit. Place-making needs to be seen as contributing to the 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The Future of Places conference in Stockholm was the third and last in a series that has…
The deal on climate and what it should mean for planners
This blog was frst posted in December 2015. The international agreement reached in COP21 in Paris should provoke a wide ranging review of planning policies around the world. Finally it seems that the nations of the world have taken a tentative step forward in addressing the issue of climate change. However, there are plenty of…
See Urbanisation as a Positive – or Fail
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 11 July 2011. A third of the world’s people are on the move, says Billy Cobbett, the Manager of Cities Alliance. Addressing the World Planning Schools Congress in Perth, Western Australia, Mr. Cobbett called for planners to transform the current wave of urbanisation into a sustainable…
“This project will be a good one!”
This blog was first posted in February 2015. Young Eyes is a new IC project. It looks to me like it will be a good one. I was at the kick-off meeting in a cold and misty Warsaw in January. All the partners were there – Jelgava and Rauna from Latvia, our Polish friends from…