The colonies of the British Empire gave rise to many of the biggist cities in the world; colonial policy and planning have had a profound impact in the form and functioning of these cities. Robert Home provides a critical assessment of the impact of British colonialism on world urban Developmenmt:

- the lagacy of Shaftesbury's Grand Modell in the New World and elsewhere

- the origins of racial segregation, from Raffles' Singapore to apartheid South Africa

- the building and renewal of port cities across the continents

- the new house forms devised from the verandah bungalow to the barrack block

- the control of city space by doctors and engineers

Robert Home is Professor of Land Management, and teaches Environmental Law and Planning subjects. He holds a degree in History (Cambridge) and a PhD in Geography from LSE, and is also a chartered town planner. He has researched widely on planning and land management topics in Europe and the Third World, and is a specialist in local authority accommodation assessments for Gypsies and Travellers (Bedfordshire, Cambridge sub-region, Dorset, East and North Surrey undertaken to date).

His publications include: books on Third World planning, land titling in Africa and the Caribbean, Gypsies, and inner city regeneration; recent articles in Socio-Legal Studies, Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education, Habitat International, Planning Perspectives, Planning History, Romani Studies and elsewhere; and chapter contributions to books on the Gypsies of Britain and feminist approaches to land law. He is currently editing a book for Hart Publications, Squatters or settlers: Rethinking ownership, occupation and use in land law, comprising papers given to a recent workshop held at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Onati (Spain). He also contributes to the UN-Habitat Global Land Tools Network, and has undertaken many overseas consultancies (including to Zambia, Bulgaria and Macedonia).