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:
Ravages of Hurricane Sandy – Planning for disasters
Hurricane Sandy was the largest tropical storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, covering an area 900 miles across, with 150km per hour winds bringing torrential rain. We have all been stunned by the impact that it has had on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA. Without in any way belittling this, it is important to…
Ten messages from the rest of the world to planners in Scotland
What can planners in Scotland (and the rest of the UK) learn from thinking and practice in other countries? For World Town Planning Day 2019 I did a blog that extolled ideas nurtured in Scotland that had relevance for the rest of the world. Now it’s time to flip the focus and look the other way. In…
Unfilled posts and poorly targeted employment initiatives
My column in Planning in 1987, has a contemporary feel in 2020 as issues of mass unemployment and Council cuts come to the fore once again. A Director of Planning post left unfilled to save money. Doing away with planning. Why I gave up on RTPI Council. The interplay of place and class in labour markets. This…
EU putting emphasis on towns
The Latvian Presidency of the EU has been pushing the case that towns have an important role to play in territorial cohesion. Key questions are what are the development ppotentials of towns and how can these best be realised? To this end, the ESPON programme has produced a commentary highlighting the main types of urban areas…
Smart cities is a strong theme in the World Urban Forum
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…
Making Europe’s Small Towns More Attractive
The figure of Hans Clauert is used in public art in the centre of Trebbin to brand the town. How do you make small towns in rural areas more attractive? This is the central concern of a Baltic Sea INTERREG IVB project that I have been working on. Trans-in-Form brought together partners from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland,…
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…
How will Brexit affect Ireland?
This blog was first posted in September 2017. The EU has rightly made the issue of Ireland a central element of the Brexit negotiations. What might be the territorial impact of creating an external border between Ireland and Northern Ireland? A cross-border conference in Dundalk, organised by RTPI, brought a sharp focus on the challenges…
Plan Verde – Mexico City’s Climate Change Strategy
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 20 February 2012. In June the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development will be held. Few will place much confidence in the capacity of national governments to drive forward an inclusive and environmental agenda for the world, as happened at Rio in 1992. Rather, the…
Healthy cities
America’s obesity crisis is creating a new concern to make healthy cities, though the rhetoric outstrips the plans. A recent blog on a health website says that more than half of U.S. adults don’t meet the recommended daily requirements for aerobic exercise or physical activity. It makes the case for better planning and design to…