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:
India launches Smart Cities competition
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week launched his government’s response to the urbanisation challenges it faces. The Smart Cities initiative was announced alongside a “Housing for All by 2022” programme. The aim is to create new Smart Cities while also regenerating old urban areas and addressing sustainability issues. The 100 Smart Cities will be…
International accreditation of planning degrees
What are the implications of moves to offer international accreditation of planning education, particularly on North-South basis globally? The RTPI has fully accredited a planning programme in Africa for the first time. I chaired the Accreditation Board that visited University of Cape Town last week. On 30 October the Commonwealth Association of Planners will hold a meeting…
The Maldives – Challenges for Sustainable Development in a Small Island State
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 13 February 2012. Last week’s forced departure of the President of The Maldives has brought global attention to this small country. It is one of 29 small island developing states (SIDS) listed by the UN Commission on Trade and Development, though there is no official…
Forced evictions – there are alternatives
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,…
Bait movie – Nautical gentrification
The British film Bait, released in 2019, should be of interest to planners and urbanists internationally for the issues it raises about community and economic development. Bait is set in a fishing village in Cornwall, one of the poorest regions in England. After 20 years of regional development funding from the EU, GDP per capita remains only 68% of…
A high rise future?
My article in January 2000 looked back and gazed into the future. How well did I do in anticipating change in British cities, planning and higher education? This article first appeared in Planning 14 January 2000. It is reproduced by kind permission of the editor.
Elites treat the poor as disposable citizens – CV19 in India
Dispatch from Delhi on the CV19 crisis in India’s cities. “The COVID-19 pandemic is deepening the existing ruthless and exclusionary practices in India’s big cities, where elites treat the poor as ‘disposable citizens’ clearly evident when we see thousands of poor migrants being stranded in the middle of nowhere, whereas the upper-class people continue to…
For inclusive planning confront exclusion
To make places inclusive, planners and placemakers need to understand exclusion. ‘Make cities and human settlements safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable’. SDG 11 set a clear path forward for planners. Making planning an inclusive process is a central theme of the New Urban Agenda. The RTPI has called for an ‘inclusive recovery’ from the Covid pandemic, saying that this…
ESPON and the EU’s Territorial Agenda
This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 22 June 2011. Budapest What can local and regional authorities do to speed economic recovery? What kind of actions are needed to make the pattern of development more sustainable? How can we make places more inclusive? The Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020 (TA), agreed…
2011: A Review
Urban This blog was first posted on the Planning Resource website on 16 December 2011. Looking at planning and economic development from a global perspective, 2011 was a year that posed more questions than it answered. At the level of headlines, there was little to raise the spirits or to make you confident that the…