Kategorie: Pre-2020

Planners on an innovative post-graduate course in Zambia are being trained to understand how informal development operates and how to deliver pro-poor planning. The scale of the challenges in rapidly urbanising African cities is familiar. What is less common is the direct engagement of planning students with the day to day realities of life in…

A Brexit-induced crash in the markets seems likely to set the framework for the work of planners in the months ahead. I am writing early on Monday afternoon, 27 June 2016. The Pound has fallen to a 31 year low; shares in Barclays are down 12%, in the Royal Bank of Scotland 14% In the…

I am pleased to confirm that I will become Chair of the Cockburn Association in June, when the present Chair, Lord Brodie, steps down. The Cockburn Association is one of the oldest urban conservation and planning organisations in the world. It was formed in 1875 and has a distinguished history in campaigning to conserve and enhance the…

Civic pride and civic trust are important for community cohesion and well-being, but are being eroded by austerity and a centralised system of planning and local government. This was a central theme of the  inaugural Scottish Civic Trust Annual Lecture which I delivered in Edinburgh on 2 March. Scotland’s 5.2 million people are served by…

New Zealand’s right-wing minority government is amending the legislation that defines the planning system, to address what it calls problems with „cumbersome planning processes“. The Minister, Dr Nick Smith called it „a moderate reform Bill that will reduce the cost and delays for homeowners and businesses“. He introduced the Bill to amend the Resource Management…

Around 8 million live in Afghanistan’s cities today, but that number is expected to double by 2030.Yet, like many other rapidly urbanising countries, it has no national urban policy, no housing policy, and local planning is weak. The country remains predominantly rural, with only 1 in 4 living in urban areas. However, a recent report by…

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 Europe’s south-eastern and southern Neighbours, and beyond, there…

ESPON is inviting bids for seven new applied research projects, including one on comparing the spatial planning systems across Europe. The new ESPON programme has announced the first seven major research projects that it will fund. Amongst them is a comparative study of territorial governance and spatial planning systems in Europe. The brief points to the…

Faced with increased urban flooding, China is seeking to create „sponge cities“ that can absorb water. China’s rapid urbanisation has been accompanied by increased rates of urban flooding. The number of Chinese cities affected by floods has more than doubled since 2008. While water management was integrated into traditional Chinese urban development, the last 40 years have…

We are building cities to attract investment, not cities for people to live in, argued David Harvey, the distinguished geographer, speaking in Montevideo. Harvey argued that in times of economic crisis, one escape strategy has been to invest in the built environment, as a way to create opportunities for capital and to get potentially rebellious…