John McCarthy

Heriot-Watt University · School of the Built Environment

Cruise ship tourism continues to grow faster than other tourism sectors globally, with increasing potential benefits for cruise destinations, which seek to boost tourism revenue for instance by developing passenger terminals and associated infrastructure. However, there is a growing awareness of the need for ‘responsible cruise tourism’ in view of...

There has been significant growth in cruise ship tourism in recent decades, leading to benefits and problems for host ports, with most growth concentrated in small-medium cruise ports, and these have sought to develop policy and practice solutions which maximise net benefits from cruise tourism. The experience of the Atlantic Canadian ports of Hali...

This article addresses the provision of interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students enrolled on Built Environment, Design and Construction courses in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), drawing from a variety of case studies based in the UK. The article cites published literature from across disciplinary boundaries, demonstrating a need...

The use of cultural and creative clusters to achieve a range of regeneration outcomes is now common practice in cities world-wide. However, clear evidence is lacking on the potential sustainable benefits of such approaches, particularly where they would appear to be based on planning for the primacy of short-term economic aims often linked primaril...

Reviews ‘With international scholarship and case studies from every continent, this Companion is destined to be an essential reference for anyone interested in urban regeneration. Accessible essays cover every aspect of the problems cities face worldwide and report on the solutions that have been tried using the latest research.’ Yvonne Rydin, Pro...

Recent growth in the cruise tourism industry has been accompanied by the development of new cruise passenger terminals in many port cities, in part to assist aims for spatial planning and urban regeneration. Such terminals can bring specific benefits but also problems, though application of spatial planning and related policy can help to maximize b...

Many historic port cities have in recent decades experienced redevelopment for new “post-industrial” uses, often related to tourism. Such uses may offer the potential for creating more sustainable and liveable cities, for instance by means of greater mixing of uses, and re-use of vacant or under-used land. Equally, however, they may lead to problem...

Business improvement districts (BIDs) have now been established in Scotland, building on experience elsewhere including in England and Wales. It may be argued that BIDs can not only bring enhanced cleanliness, security and minor public realm improvements, but also contribute to more substantial strategic regeneration objectives, including those for...

This article considers the application of reflection via reflective writing in education for built environment professional disciplines such as spatial planning and surveying, and how this is linked to subsequent application in professional practice. It stems from the experience of the author as a teacher in higher education for spatial planning at...

There has been a significant growth in the number of subterranean residential developments over the past 10 years in the UK, particularly within London. While they may present little visible evidence above ground, such developments can have significant impacts on sustainability, amenity and environmental quality. Nevertheless, few local planning au...

The notion of social justice is used in a variety of policy discourses, including urban regeneration policy. At least in rhetorical terms, this usage has been particularly strong in Scotland (Mooney, G., and Scott, G., 200534. Mooney , G. and Scott , G. 2005 . “ Introduction: themes and questions ” . In Exploring social policy in the ‘new’ Scotland...

Many port cities have encouraged tourism-related activities in recent decades as an alternative to port or shipping activities. There has also been a significant expansion of the global tourist cruise industry, with increased capacity in terms of ships, length of operating season, and area of coverage. Hence there has been consequent development of...

IntroductionHistoric contextDecline and changeRevivalCulture, partnership and regionalismEmerging agendasConclusion

Cities are increasingly seeking to encourage culture-related uses in particular areas, often designated as ‘cultural quarters’, to achieve regeneration outcomes, and public art is often applied in such quarters in order to promote place image and to enhance local identity. However, it may be argued that these aims are potentially contradictory, sin...

The arts and cultural sectors have been used by many cities in recent decades to bring about effects such as economic diversification, image enhancement, and increased social cohesion. In Scotland, such approaches have been encouraged by the Scottish Executive which has prepared a National Cultural Strategy to ensure that maximum benefit is obtaine...

Many cities in recent decades have encouraged the arts and cultural sectors as a means of achieving regeneration outcomes. Such strategies have been followed particularly by cities with perceived problems in relation to image and identity, linked to the need to promote inward investment and tourism. One policy implication has been the designation o...

The National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 provides the legislative framework for the creation of new national parks in Scotland. The Act sets out four aims for the Scottish National Parks, one of which is the promotion of sustainable economic and social development in the parks. This aim is particularly important as it reflects a contemporary view of...

The emergence of new tourism‐related land uses within historic port cities has brought a range of physical, economic and social benefits. However, there are often associated tensions between the need for economic development and the need to maintain the unique heritage resource that may be a large part of the attraction for visitors. The case of Ma...

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have been widely adopted in the USA as a means of bringing about enhanced service provision and broader regeneration impacts, and interest is now turning to the use of such mechanisms in the UK. However, the fundamental differences between the administrative and social contexts of the USA and the UK mean that B...

The city of Chicago has recently experienced significant growth in terms of residential and service sector development in the downtown area. However, at the same time, several parts of the core city continue to suffer from decline, as indicated by loss of population and employment, and associated concentration of disadvantage. The latest initiative...

Port cities in the Mediterranean and elsewhere are increasingly seeking to encourage tourism-related development, and the cruise industry is a significant potential source of revenue for such cities. Consequently, there is competition between port cities for infrastructure that allows increased cruise tourism, and many cities have encouraged the de...

The increasing interest in the potential use of fiscal incentives as a mechanism for stimulating urban renewal has been highlighted by a number of influential policy sources. This paper assesses the application and outcomes of tax-based incentives in urban regeneration, with particular focus upon the differing models represented by Dublin (Ireland)...

The use of National Park designations to bring about aims including the protection and conservation of the natural environment has become established in most European Union member states. In the UK, such arrangements have long featured in England and Wales, but they have not been paralleled by similar designations in Scotland. Now, however, Nationa...

Like many cities in the USA suffering from structural decline, in recent decades the city of Detroit has applied a ‘pro-growth’ agenda involving the encouragement of development within the core city. More specifically, entertainment and sports-related schemes have been the focus of this agenda in recent years. However, the use of such schemes to ac...

In recent years, the policy agenda for urban regeneration in Scotland has focused on social justice and inclusion, reflecting the priorities of the New Labour government and the Scottish Parliament. In addition, there is now a national ‘community planning’ agenda in Scotland, aimed at improving service delivery by enhancing partnership between all...

Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs) are the most recent urban regeneration initiative in Scotland. This measure builds on the experience of previous initiatives, in particular the Urban Partnerships in peripheral public sector housing estates an d the Priority Partnership Areas (PPA) initiative. However, SIPs would appear to present an advance on...

While the Urban Programme remains the central mechanism for the implementation of urban regeneration in Scotland, it has experienced a significant evolution in recent years, manifested for instance by the introduction of Priority Partnership Areas which are intended to target resources on concentrated areas of multiple deprivation. This evolution h...

The arts and culture sectors have been shown to contain considerable potential as driving forces for regeneration. Following a series of physical, economic and community regeneration initiatives in the city of Dundee, an arts and culture-based strategy is now being followed which would seem to offer a means by which sustainable regeneration achieve...

There is increasing evidence of social polarisation, exclusion and segregation in cities throughout the USA and Europe. This article uses a case study of Chicago to explore these issues and their effects, and to consider the potential of the city's most recent regeneration initiative, the Empowerment Zone, to address them. The article is structured...

The development of the south bank of the central waterfront area of Rotterdam may be seen as the culmination of a process of reconstruction and redevelopment in the city that has been taking place over a considerable period, in particular since the destruction of a large part of the city's central area in the Second World War. This process has invo...

Recent proposals for the development of the obsolescent Victoria Dock area of Dundee, for mixed uses incorporating a major factory outlet’ retail element, have now been given conditional planning approval. While these proposals for ‘City Quay’ run contrary to suggestions in an agreed planning brief for the area, it has been assumed that they will p...

The designation of empowerment zones marked a significant shift in federal policy for urban regeneration in the US, and the six urban empowerment zones designated in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia-Camden have now begun to achieve results in terms of implementing social projects and attracting investment for economic...

The city of Rotterdam would seem to have succeeded in adapting to new conditions of urban competition by means of the physical reconstruction of its central area and the re-imaging of its cultural identity on an international level, while also achieving social objectives for regeneration. Moreover, these achievements have been brought about largely...

The potential of community‐led planning has been demonstrated in the recent practice of land use planning in many areas of the UK. While this has been encouraged to a degree by central government, particularly in terms of facilitating viable partnerships between agents in the development process, the specific role of individual authorities has also...

The Temple Bar project in Dublin has been widely viewed as a model of culture‐led regeneration. However, the outcomes of the project show that many of its original aims, such as the maintenance and enhancement of a diverse range of uses to cater for both the needs of the local population and those of investors, have not been achieved. This would se...

The recent experiences of Glasgow and Dundee in terms of urban regeneration have been very different. One reason for the disparities in the perceived levels of success of regeneration initiatives in these cities has of course been the very different political, social and economic contexts of each. However, it would also seem that the different appr...

Using the city of Detroit as an example, this paper examines the increasing forces of decentralization in the USA which have resulted in an increasing level of polarization between communities in the core city and those outside. This is proving harmful to both types of community, since those regions which are least polarized would seem to be the mo...

The regeneration of obsolescent urban waterfront areas has proved to be a recent focus of urban policy throughout Europe. Despite an apparent convergence in the practice of waterfront regeneration within European cities, such practice in the Netherlands has evolved in a distinctive manner. The latest manifestation of a policy response has been the...

The recent emphasis placed on the property-led regeneration of inner urban areas has been particularly apparent in the waterfront areas of port cities. Such cities have frequently used their obsolescent waterfront areas as catalysts for the regeneration of a larger urban area, with varying degrees of success. The history of Dundee's waterfront area...

Culture-led approaches to regeneration have become widespread throughout many cities in Europe, encouraged in many cases by European Union funding. However, many critics argue that a number of the assumptions that underpin such approaches to regeneration are not valid; there is therefore a need to test these assumptions against the experience of in...

The arts and cultural sectors have been used by many towns and cities to achieve outcomes in relation to job creation, income generation, image enhancement, and general improvements to quality of life. Such approaches have been encouraged in Scotland by the Scottish Executive, which has prepared a National Cultural Strategy intended to ensure that...