Michael E. Leary-Owhin has an international reputation in the fields of urban planning and regeneration. He has over 30 years' experience in the field and has practiced in the public and private sectors, recently giving expert witness evidence at a major urban regeneration public inquiry in the UK.

John P. McCarthy is Associate Professor in Urban Studies in The Urban Institute, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society at Heriot-Watt University. He worked as a planning practitioner in the public sector in London in the 1980s, and has worked in academia at the University of Dundee and Heriot-Watt University.