The making of the historic city

Edinburgh has a very distinct historical physical environment. It was the locus for important pre-twentieth century initiatives in town planning. The place, these initiatives and the long-established form of the local state have been important influences on subsequent planning practice. Town planning has been a way of manipulating urban change in an environment characterized by a rich legacy of historic buildings and a spectacular topography. However, as Geddes observed as long ago as 1910, ‘Architecture and town planning in such a city, we plainly see, are not the mere products of the quiet drawing-office some would have them, they are the expressions of the local history, the civic and national changes of mood and contrasts of mind.’ 2