Kategorie: Original Blogs CliffHague.com
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Metropolitan challenges and affordable housing
After the pomp of the opening ceremony, the 10th World Urban Forum got involved in two critical issues. How to plan and manage metropolitan areas? An event organised by ISOCARP focused on this urgent theme. A range of leading figures from organisations that included the World Bank, the OECD and politicians from the Barcelona metropolitan…
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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…
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Ten messages from Scotland for Planners around the World
On World Town Planning Day 2019, I was part of an event in Dundee organised by RTPI (Scotland) with the theme „Through the Years, Across the Globe“. Discussion during and after prompted me to ponder Scotland’s messages to an international audience of planners and urbanists. For a small country, Scotland has contributed significantly to thinking…
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Delhi – Colonial Planning, Slums and Gated Communities
Inside the slums and gated communities the opportunities and obstacles to sustainable and inclusive urban development can be seen. Spending a few days in Delhi as part of the Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods project has given me insights into the way urbanisation is taking place in the city, and the implications this has for…
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City Spread and New Neighbourhoods
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 the 2016-30 Sustainable Development Goals? These fundamental questions…
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Scotland’s Planning Bill – who will „frontloading“ work for?
The passing of the Scottish Planning Bill marks the end of a tortuous period, during which it even seemed possible that the Bill might be withdrawn, so heavily had it been amended. However, the conflicts that surfaced are unlikely to go away. What changes has the Bill made to Scotland’s planning system? The changes in the…
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50 years a planner
It is 50 years ago since I took up my first post as a professional planner. This anniversary moment provides plenty to reflect on. In May 1968, while students built barricades on the streets of Paris, I took the train from Manchester to Glasgow for a job intereview. The post I was applying for was…
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China’s New-Style Urban Policy
Urban Transformation and “New Style” Urbanisation in China was the theme of a major conference hosted by the University of Glasgow. In 2014 China launched its New-Style Urbanisation Plan (NUP). The Plan gave a new emphasis to environment and to the quality of urban development, and better urban-rural integration, while anticipating a continued increase in…
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Community and film: Akenfield and Byker
Three contrasting films prompt important questions about the nature of communities, past and present, rural and urban. The word „community“ is often invoked by planners and architects, but all too often with disregard for the realities. This week I have been to see three films that explore what communities are and how they function, while also…
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Science and Urban Climate Change
A paper in a leading scientific journal calls for much greater engagement of scientists in urban policy and practice. Politicians look for short term fixes. The public has no appetite for „experts“. Many practising planners and other built environment professionals disdain academics and say they don’t have time to read research. Yet a paper by Xuemei…