Landscape

The city of Edinburgh is defined by its awe-inspiring juxtaposition of the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town manifests itself as organically grown, with its sense of intrigue and suspense, whilst the enlightenment New Town is envisaged as a planned neo-classical model city of composed vistas and refined, understated finesse. Both are remarkably expressive of topography as their build fabric is sculpted by valleys, ridgelines and steep inclined escarpments. The Old Town and the New Town have proven a hard act to follow. One can argue that both the Old Town and New Town have been succeeded by several generations of undefined and nondescriptive No-Town areas. For this very reason, we admire the early attempt by American architect Richard Meier and Scottish landscape architect Ian White, the designers of the original Edinburgh Park, to turn the tide and reinterpret both the classical urban and the romantic landscape as composite whole. The design of Edinburgh Park can be regarded as the long overdue next instalment and a new chapter to redefine Edinburgh urban fringe.

The public realm, supported by public transport, lies at the heart of the aspiration to create place for people at Edinburgh Park. The treatment of landscape and public realm plays an important role in contributing towards a distinct sense of place. The landscape and public realm will create an integrated network of open spaces which will provide a vibrant place for a spectrum of public activities and allow for a creative synergy of living, working and culture. The public realm will promote opportunities for both active and passive recreation, productive landscape, bio-diversity and cultural entertainment framed by an iconic skyline.

Edinburgh Park will also provide a new experience of nature in the city in times of climate change. The project will install a new soft dynamic infrastructure and is based upon fluid and adaptive spatial strategies. It connects urban hydrological functions with vegetation and forms a green infrastructure which is part of the urban system. This new urban quarter will be based upon a restorative design strategy to transform the site into a living system which includes water management and treatment, habitat creation, food production. It will express and articulate the entwinement of the biological and the cultural and celebrate both bio-diversity and cultural diversity.