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:
A critical decade for cities
This blog was first posted in June 2015. There will be another 2 billion people living in urban areas by 2030. With a billion people now living in slums,and over 100,000 homeless people in Delhi, for example, it is no exaggeration to say that this is a critical decade for cities and the practice of…
EU briefing on their Urban Agenda
The European Parliament has issed a useful briefing note explaining the background to moves to deveop an Urban Agenda for the EU, and also sketching out some of the political tensions that the move is generating. Some 70% of EU citizens live in urban areas. In addition, most EU policies have some impact, direct or…
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.
The Digital Archipelago: The Saviour of the Greek Economy
This Guest Blog by Emeritus Professor Klaus Kunzmann proposes a radical approach to Greece’s economic difficulties By Klaus Kunzmann Enough gloom and doom When reading all the gloomy stories about Greece, I have learnt much about banks and financial institutions, about the imperatives of debt reductions, about the growing conflict between the German culture of order…
Migration, gender and development in Europe
How has the economic crisis impacted on migration patterns across Europe? This question is addressed in a new four-page ESPON Evidence Brief. The theme was also a central feature of the ESPON seminar in Vilnius on 4-5 December. Migration has been a priority concern of the Lithuanian EU Presidency. This is not surprising, given the scale…
Women’s Safety in India
The death of the 23-year old physiotherapy student after she was gang raped on a New Delhi bus has commanded headlines around the world. This appalling and tragic event has focused attention on the failures of the Indian authorities, and Indian society more generally, to tackle long standing problems of sexual assault and harassment. The…
International report says planning denies Palestinians justice
Planning is being used in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Palestine to deny Palestinian communites fair opportunities for development. The practices undertaken in the name of “good planning” actually amount to a denial of administrative justice. These are important findings from an International Advisory Board of experienced planners that it was my privilege to chair. …
Is Polycentric Development still a recipe for Territorial Cohesion?
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…
City Spread and New Neighbourhoods
This blog was first posted in October 2019. A major study of health, education and sustainability in rapidly growing cities poses some difficult questions for public policy makers. What kind of neighbourhoods characterise the rapidly growing cities of Asia and Africa, and how do they contribute to – or lead us away from – achieving…
Temporary use of vacant spaces and buildings
Whether it’s an old church or the shell of a derelict factory, a gap site or an under-used parking lot, vacant land and buildings are a headache for planners and regeneration professionals. The impacts of vacany stretch beyond the site, creating a sense of decline and blighting neighbourhoods. Yet these left overs can be the…