Prof. Cliff Hague, President, Commonwealth Association of Planners

Cliff Hague has been President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners (2000-2006) and is a Past President of the Royal Town Planning Institute. Until recently he was Professor of Planning and Spatial Development at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Cliff is one of the authors of a paper “Reinventing Planning: A New Governance Paradigm for Managing Human Settlements” that was written to stimulate debate in the run-up to the WUF III. The paper argues that traditional planning practices have been left behind by the pace of urban change and advances ten principles for “New Urban Planning”. Cliff is also a co-author of a publication to be launched at WUF, Making Planning Work, which reviews the skills needed to put these principles into practice and shows what can be done to grow skills and enhance capacities. 

He co-edited the book Place Identity, Participation and Planning (Routledge, 2005), and is author of many articles and book chapters. He writes a regular column in Planning magazine. He has been extensively involved in contract research, particularly for the UK government, including the preparation of Diversity and Equality in Planning: A Good Practice Guide (2005) and Participatory Planning for Sustainable Communities: International experience in mediation, negotiation and engagement in making plans (2003). From 2001-2006 he has been the UK Contact Point for the European Spatial Planning Observation Network.