22 C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 infill on gap, or redeveloped, sites.While smaller-scale projects have frequently found it easier to reflect the character or, as Geddes would have it, spirit of the city, John Hope’s long-term master planning of Holyrood Road shows that larger-scale planning can be adeptly inserted into the city grain. Ian Begg’s 1980s hotel on the Royal Mile was an unexpected return to Scots historicism; prominent and provocative, at least for architects, it assimilates (too) well for most. Elsewhere, confident and exciting new design can add to the vibrancy of the historic city, with the most successful new interventions generally taking some cue from their context, beyond the concession of a sandstone cloak. More recently, rising commercialism and tourism have resulted in a surge in hotels and serviced-lets, in tandem with a huge rise in students.This has led to fears about the survival of a resident OldTown population, for some a bellwether of the city’s spirit. Simultaneously, following a spell of peripheral development, the first New Town has regained its prominence, with several high-profile office schemes and retail expansion. Geddes knew an overcrowded OldTown with atrocious housing conditions. He would surely have welcomed the departure of chronic poverty and the influx of a more mixed community, especially students, but could even he have foreseen the impact of economic success on the historic city? Steven Robb is deputy head of casework for Historic Environment Scotland. Further Reading Haworth, Rachel (2000) ‘Patrick Geddes’ concept of conservative surgery’, Architectural Heritage XI, Journal of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland Johnson, Jim and Rosenburg, Lou (2010) Renewing Old Edinburgh, Argyll Publishing in association with the Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies at Edinburgh College of Art (an excellent study of Geddes’ legacy in the city) Scandic Crown Hotel (now Radisson Blu) (1988) by Ian Begg: tourism potential saw Begg adapt his earlier housing scheme for this long-standing gapsite on the Royal Mile. 20th-century infill on the Canongate: social housing by MacRae (1930) and Richard Murphy (1999)
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