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:
Levelling Up
What is ‘levelling up’, what are the barriers and how do you overcome them? On 15 July 2021, UK Prime Minister Johnson gave what was intended to be a major statement on ‘levelling up’ the country. It received a tepid reception, with a general consensus in the UK press that it was vague and repackaged past promises…
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…
Town Planning and Planners in Bangladesh
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 15 March 2011. By 2030, one in every two urban residents in the world will be in Asia. Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, brings this dramatic urban transition into focus. Faced with a constant battle against water, inadequate infrastructure and sanitation, endemic traffic congestion and…
Planning a growing metropolis: Lahore
This blog was first published in October 2014,and is reproduced by kind permission of the editor of the Planning Resource website. Last week I was in Pakistan, speaking at an international conference on Town Planning and Urban Management. It was an opportunity to revisit Lahore for the first time in 20 years and to experience…
Time tested principles for successful place-making
How do you create attractive and environmentally sustainable places? A new, updated edition of a major text provides powerful lessons and evidence. The first edition of Randall Arendt’s Rural by Design was published 20 years ago, and became a classic resource for a generation of planners and urbanists in North America. The new edition is even better, and has…
A creeping privatisation of public space?
This blog was first publised in August 2017. Might plans for a make-over for Edinburgh’s West Princes Street Gardens lead to a partial privatisation of an iconic public space? West Princes Street Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh are an outstanding feature of the city. They sit below the spectacular castle. A bandstand is at…
Local economic development lessons from US
Working together to achieve a common vision for change is a key requirement for urban economic regeneration, argues a new report based on research in 4 US cities. The report is published by the UK-based Centre for Local Economic Strategies. The research looked at Cleveland, Pittsburg, Philadelphia and Providence, all cities that have faced major economic challenges…
Force Majeure movie review: Explosions in a landscape
The film Force Majeure focuses on the tensions within a marriage, but it also depicts the tensions between people and the natural environment. The original Swedish title of Ruben Östlund’s internationally acclaimed film Force Majeure is Turist, which is “Tourist”. The pivotal drama in the film is the moment early on when an avalanche of snow threatens to bury the winter…
An Italian success story
Recently Professor Cliff Hague from Scotland went to a meeting of a project looking at small and medium-sized towns across Europe,where he spoke in a small town about branding the town. For ICN he reviews his visit and shares his thoughts with us. 2013-12-11 The ESPON project TOWN is looking at small and medium sized towns across…