It would be easy to assume that the large amount of building works and new construction in Edinburgh is a consequence of the siting of the new Scottish seat of government, tagged as a 'pretendy Parliament' by Scottish stage personality Billy Connolly. But factors more mundane than the urgings of the 'democratic spirit' can explain this spate of new building: in particular Edinburgh's position as the fourth biggest financial centre in Europe; the incidence of developer rather than open competitions; the invitation extended to the American modernist architect Richard Meier to come up with a masterplan for the design of the Edinburgh Park business centre; and Edinburgh's 1970s love-affair with the motor-car, the resultant fractured city and early new-millennium ambivalence about private/public transport.
Around 100 entries in this book give a framework for understanding what all this means for Edinburgh's built environment and for reading recent architectural design in the city.
