Edinburgh: A Guide to Recent Architecture

by Johnny Rodger, John Niall McClean (Photographer)

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.

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Johnny Rodger is a writer, critic, and Professor of Urban Literature at The Glasgow School of Art.

His research consists of enquiry published internationally in two aspects: on the one hand literary and critical writing, and on the other architecture and urbanism. The thesis which runs through all his work is that literary and critical writing has a direct, specific and particular influence on civil and political, and ultimately spatial formations.