The challenges and opportunities of ‘greening’ vacant and derelict land, Mike Batley
IT sounds seductively easy, instituting a nationwide programme that seeks to convert each and every plot of vacant and derelict land into a nature reserve.…
Tag: Opinion
Step by step, brick by brick, we’re getting there, Jane Meagher
Jane Meagher is Scottish Labour councillor for Portobello / Craigmillar in Edinburgh, and convener of the city council’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee. She…
Coworking to build community, Claire Carpenter
WEDNESDAY was an auspicious day for people in my line of work. It was the first European Coworking Day – here – and it couldn’t…
Time for a national institution to take the lead in placemaking?, Prof Stuart Gulliver
THERE’S a reasonable case to be made that, in Scotland, we have undergone two ‘built environment’ revolutions since the Second World War. The first, immediately…
Shifting from consultation to co-production with communities, Nick Wright
IF there is broad consensus that it is fundamentally a good thing to include communities in delivering ‘good’ neighbourhoods (and that this is preferable to…
Litter: the solution is in everyone’s hands, Laura Watson
PRIOR to joining the charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful, last year, I spent the better part of the previous decade travelling to various location across Britain…
We need ‘place leads’ embedded in every local authority, Irene Beautyman
WE do not have the luxury of time to deal with one crisis at a time. We need a win for climate change, a win…
More homes at the heart of great places, Mhairi Donaghy
SCOTTISH society was built around towns and villages. From the traditional clan system to today’s modern settlements, we’re a sociable nation that thrives on community…
Pull the carbon from under your very sustainable building, Steve Webb
THE honey tone of your exposed Douglas Fir frame proudly proclaims sustainability and a planet-loving rapprochement with nature; but under the ground lurks a dirty…
Britain’s economic slowdown, the role of housing and land, and what to do with it, Prof Ken Gibb
IN the last few weeks, two eminent broadsheet columnists coincidentally produced dovetailing pieces about the strategic need to remake housing policy. Will Hutton, in the Observer…