Smart Directions in Urban Development – the Russian Experience

Conference chair for event organised by Kommersant Newspaper and Reed Midem to discuss the Russian Experience with smart city development

Best Practice in City Design

Keynote paper to conference in Belgrade organised by the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and United Nations Human Settlements Programme to support the UNDA programme 'Strengthening National Capacities for Sustainable Housing' in selected countries with economies in transition including Armenia, Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Tajikistan. Working together the partners have assembled international panel of expertise to assist the programme and to undertake specialist missions to the host countries. This paper looks at best practice in city design with case studies elected from around the UNECE region of the UN. The objective of the missions to assist national governments in the formulation and implementation of relevant policies and by developing the National Action Plans (NAPs) for Sustainable Housing, Urban Development and Land Management

Scotland’s Urban Age: Aberdeen – Glasgow – Edinburgh in the 21st Century

The 21st century is said to be the century of the city. Overwhelming evidence from the UN and leading Think Tanks suggests this to be case. Under the leadership of Dr Joan Clos, the United Nations has made a paradigm shift from studying the ‘human habitat and urbanisation’ to ‘the city’ for Habitat III and the ‘New Urban Agenda’. Governments and Cities are working to establish their identity within this context, with every new decade begetting a new urban slogan – as festival cities become sustainable cities then green cities and now – smart cities. But each of these labels does no more than reflect the mores of the moment. A true city is a whole city. The Urban Age is an ambitious project run by the LSE that looks at the megacities of the World. If there is an ‘urban age’, it is important to speculate on what will this mean for Scotland’s principal cities – Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh – and whether they can get beyond Smart, Green and Sustainable to become the holistic urban leaders of a new urban enlightenment. Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen will be in the vanguard of Scotland’s Urban Age. In this forward-looking piece of work, commissioned by Burness Paull, the Glasgow Urban Laboratory from the Glasgow School of Art will look forward to where Scotland’s principal cities might be as the 21st century matures within an era of seismic institutional change. The work considers: • Scotland’s urban hierarchy – the demographics, economics, markets and identities of the country’s three principal cities; • Scotland’s Cities Alliance and Scotland’s urban system; • Existing and future trends; • Challenges and opportunities for the principal cities; • What they might look like by the middle of the 21st century

Vancouver to Vladivostok: HABITAT III and the metropolitan context of the UNECE

The paper describes the process and methodology of preparing the Habitat III Regional Report on the UNECE Region and describes the findings and the urban trends in the UNECE Region over the period 1996 - 2016

Between the Times and the Place: Thinking Smart – Working Fast – Living Slow

Keynote Paper to Rebuilding Ireland - Delivering a Sustainable Housing Recovery, Biennial Conference of Department of Housing, Planning, Communities and Local Government, Government of Ireland/Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, February 201

What is Beauty? History, Evolution and Theory: The relevance of sublime and picturesque thought to the contemporary context

The paper explores the relevance of concepts of the sublime and the picturesque to the contemporary practice of landscape architecture in the UK

Ian Lennox McHarg, Scotland and the emergence of green consciousness

This essay seeks to place Ian Lennox McHarg and his masterwork 'Design With Nature' in contemporary and Scottish contexts. It reflects on the green consciousness of Scottish traditions and sets McHarg alongside his fellow internationally renowned and environmentally conscious Scots: John Muir and Patrick Geddes. It is suggested that the migration of dispossessed highlanders to Glasgow brought a celtic/gaelic culture to the city and this has, in turn, informed the emergence of bio-regionalism and green consciousness in Scotland. McHarg’s contribution to the early days of this movement is noted as is the significance of his work in informing the school of landscape thought (in the UK and Scotland in particular) that is rooted in regionalism, terrain, ecology and nature. Finally the narrative discusses the work in Scotland of graduates from McHarg’s landscape programs at the University of Pennsylvania and concludes that they in turn refreshed the Design With Nature methodology and re-invigorated subsequent generations of landscape planners and landscape architects in Scotland

What the Raven Saw: Taking a local world view of place

Keynote paper to the annual conference held by Skipulag, Iceland's national planning agency to disseminate best practice to Icelandic local authorities and to the architectural and planning professions in the country. The Raven is a notable symbol in Norse mythology, a shape shifter and magical creature attributed with supernatural powers including seeing into the future and on taking human form to intervene in events similar to the 'corbie' in Scots mythology and poetry. taking the vision of the raven as the point of departure, this keynote paper explores the tourism and developmental challenges facing contemporary Iceland through an examination of key issues such as cruise ship tourism and the selfie culture. A series of case studies from other small nations provides context including Valetta in Malta and Lubljiana in Slovenia

The new urban agenda and metropolitan trends in the global north

Paper reviewing urban trends in the UNECE Region of the UN in advance of Habitat III in Quito, Equador

Briefing on Habitat III Regional Report on Housing and Urban Development for the UNECE Region of the UN

Paper to the Committee of Housing and Land Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe setting out the methodology and programme for development of the Regional Report on the UNECE Region for Habitat III