Alister Scott is professor of environment and spatial planning at the Birmingham School of the Built Environment. His teaching and research interests revolve around urban-rural interrelationships and environmental governance set within an interdisciplinary perspective. He works in partnership with policy and practice professionals to address ‘messy’ problems. Scott's current projects include developing tools for policy and decision makers as part of the National Ecosystems Assessment Follow-on project 2012-2014, and managing environmental change at the rural urban fringe