The movie Disgrace is based on a prize-winning novel by J.M.Coetzee. It is set in post-apartheid South Africa, but a South Africa that is split into very different urban and rural worlds. The two are connected by 52-year old David Lurie (played by John Malkovich), a white professor teaching classes at university in Cape Town about 19th century British Romantic poets. He abuses his authority by obliging a female student to have an affair with him. She is Cape Coloured, and her black boyfriend and her family take action in different ways against him.

The World Expo will be held in Shanghai later this year. Its theme is “Better City, Better Life”. It is expected to lead up to a Summit Forum on 31 October that focuses on “Urban innovation and sustainable development”. As part of the preparations for this I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at one of regional events that have been held around China in preparation for the Expo.

How do other parts of the world view the climate change meeting in Copenhagen? We know that 15,000 or more politicians, diplomats, scientists and campaigners are in the capital of Denmark to try to reach an agreement. However, the media here in Europe gives us a European slant on the negotiations. I was in Trinidad last month at a major Commonwealth meeting. Climate change was high on the agenda, and the views of governments in the Caribbean were put over strongly. The question in Copenhagen is whether agreement can be reached on measures to deliver cuts in emissions that will keep the rise in temperatures below 2 degrees. In the Caribbean the call is for a more stringent target.

I arrived in Lagos in the sultry heat of early morning, on a flight from dark, chill Northern winter. It is places like this rapidly growing mega-city that the history of the coming decades is being made. Lagos is home to maybe 18 million today. Research that I have been doing that will be presented to a Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad later this month found that the urban population of Nigeria is expected to double by 2050. While the Baltic States and rural Scandinavia are challenged by population decline, it is rapid urbanisation and the urbanisation of poverty that will define the trajectory of places like Nigeria.

The success of the proposal for a new INTERREG project, Trans-in-form (TiF), is great news. Congratulations to the Innovation Circle network, and to the project partners in particular, especially those from Notodden who did the hard work as Lead Partner. However, as we all know, this is only the beginning. The challenge now is to make the new project a success, like its predecessors, PIPE and the Innovation Circle (IC) itself.

This blog has been delayed a bit because I have been away on holiday. Of course if, like me, you are professionally interested in what makes places attractive, then the line between work and holiday is difficult to draw. I cannot make a journey or visit a town without thinking and evaluating what I am seeing.

It’s my birthday in August. I will be part of a demographic trend that is changing the world. A new report by the US Census Bureau tells us that the number of people in the world who are over 65 is increasing by 870,000 a month. You ain’t seen nothing yet! In the next couple of years the number of ‘oldies’ like me is set to rocket. We also account for an increasing proportion of the population. No wonder the US report is called ‘An Ageing World’. In ten years time we will outnumber children for the first time.

Public disaffection with politics and politicians in the UK is higher than I can ever remember. For weeks the papers have been full of ‘revelations’ about the allowances and expenses of our members of Parliament. It has now turned into something like a medieval witch hunt, with the public revelling over every cup of coffee charged to the tax payers.

A recent report sets out a place-based approach to European Union challenges and expectations. Danuta Hübner, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, asked Fabrizio Barca to look at reform of cohesion policy. His thoroughly researched report came out at the end of April. It begins by observing that the risk of “wrong changes is high”, but it immediately adds that the risk of no change is also “very high”.

The report is notable for two reasons. Firstly, it explains what a place-based approach means and its underlying logic. Secondly, it dissects the rather confused and fragmented state of current cohesion policy.

Cliff Hague is Professor Emeritus at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. He works as a freelance consultant and researcher. He is well known as a former president and current secretary general of the Commonwealth Association of Planners, and he is representing UK within the ESPON. He is also a member of the IC network. Professor Hague has worked as an expert within the Innovation Circle Network from the very beginning. He has been a key note speaker at conferences and workshops about themes like territorial planning, innovation and new governance. Hliff Hague's blog will comment on hot topics and is relevant to everybody who cares about territorial development, innovation and regional politics and progression in Europe. Enjoy your reading!