Cliff Hague

Impacts of AirBnB regulation in New York

General, News Items

New York has long been a money spinner for AirBnB. In January 2023 there were 38,500 listings. As…

Planning, Sustainable Urbanisation and the Commonwealth

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Planning a Refugee Camp

Original Blogs CliffHague.com

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

Film Reviews, Original Blogs CliffHague.com

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.

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Building collapses in Mumbai show need for new urban planning

World View Blog-2015

Mumbai has been a powerful driver of economic growth in India over the past couple of decades. It is a mega-city with an estimated population of over 20 million. Much of the growth has taken place despite rather than because of planning. A spate of building collapses in recent weeks has prompted new debates about…

Might territorial cohesion be the answer to the UK’s constitutional crisis following the Scottish Referendum?

World View Blog-2015

Posted September 22, 2014 by cliffhague & filed Share The last week here in UK has been dominated by the referendum on Scottish independence. Although the “No” side won by a clear margin (55/45%) the issues behind the referendum have not disappeared, and now there is a political discussion at Westminster about devolution across the UK. Meanwhile, last Wednesday I…

Smart cities is a strong theme in the World Urban Forum

News Items, Pre-2020

This blog was first posted in February 2018. The exhibition at the Ninth World Urban Forum highlights the Asian embrace of Smart Cities. This is my fourth World Urban Forum, and, as ever, the exhibition is worth visiting. Most of the booths are taken by national governments, some by cities or local government organisations, a…

Research shows link between green environments and physical activity

News Items, Pre-2020

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…

Is Polycentric Development still a recipe for Territorial Cohesion?

World View Blog-2015

This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 24 October 2011. The idea of polycentric development has been a cornerstone of European spatial planning for over a decade. But what does it mean? What does it imply for practice? How can we measure it? Is it now past its “sell-by date”? The…

The Square: the guilt and fragility of a comfortable urban life

Film Reviews, Original Blogs CliffHague.com

The film The Square is about more than the excesses of contemporary art. It explores the conditions on which people are able to live in cities. In his film The Square, director Ruben Östlund dissects the contemporary urban condition. Certainly squares are geometrical shapes, and the geometrical motif is one of several images and sounds that carefully knit this…

ESPON (2013) UK Contact Point

European Observation Network for Territorial Cohesion and Development

ESPON 2013 is an applied research programme partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund and partly by the 28 EU member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Its research has built an evidence base to support policy development for territorial cohesion and development. Each country appoints a National Contact Point to interpret and…

Expect more migration in future, report tells EU

News Items, Pre-2020

This blog was first posted in April 2016. The pressure for migration into Europe will not go away, says a new report. The ongoing war in Syria is just one factor in the surge in the number of people seeking asylum in Europe, estimated by the UN to total 1 million in 2015. Looking across…

Forced evictions – there are alternatives

Original Blogs CliffHague.com

News from Sierra Leone that 9,000 slum dwellers have been made homeless by demolition of their homes highlights the need for planners to fundamentally rethink conventional approaches to housing the poor. The new Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN commit governments to inclusive cities. In particular one target for the “Urban Goal”, Goal 11, is “By 2030,…

Climate change and its impacts on a small island state: Tuvalu

World View Blog-2015

Tuvalu from the air (photo courtesy of Dr.Julia Edwards) This blog provides a front line report from Tuvalu, a small island state in the Pacific. Tuvalu is going through urbanization on a scale it has never experienced before, and is also struggling to adapt to the impacts of climate change. This remote and tiny place,…