Last week, I was in Northern Ireland, way out west of the Bann in western County Tyrone; a beautiful land of rolling hills, rich farmland and intriguing history. I was there to consider the futur...

This article was published in the Winter 2009 edition of Urban Realm magazine. If you're interested in a succinct summary of the main elements of current Scottish planning reform, read on. For muc...

For years, I've struggled with the concept of visioning. It's always seemed to me like a bunch of well-meaning folk agree a motherhood-and-apple-pie vision for whatever it is they're discussing -...

Engaging with communities is a big focus in contemporary urban planning - and a focus for a great deal of uncertainty about how to get it right. Most discussion tends to focus on how to involve "t...

Willie Miller's timely Small Practices and Procurement blog on the Urban Realm website draws attention to the increasingly difficult issue of the impact of procurement rules. To quote Willie:“"Fr...

Planning Aid for Scotland organised a seminar on 16 October to explore the increasing interest in using mediation in planning. As one of the co-facilitators at the seminar, in my capacity as a Dir...