‘Pints are up two quid The staff are beautiful and bored You think it’s coming up ‘round here? It’s falling on its sword.’Kate Tempest, Perfect Coffee. When local campaigns organise in defence of city ‘spaces,’ what are people protecting? In whose name do they speak and what values underpin something as abstract as space? Can we ringfence community, and if so, how do we tell … [Read more...] about The People’s Occupation: no more cuts
urban planning
Winners and losers on #MoultriesHill Part 3
Story so far: By the end of Part Two, the brutalist Scottish Office has been abandoned. The fate of the St James Centre hangs in the air. Part Three: 2000 - 2020After a decade or so of going nowhere things began to move (slightly) around 2005. In October that year Coal Pension Properties (CPP) put the shopping centre on the market. Six months later it was … [Read more...] about Winners and losers on #MoultriesHill Part 3
New Brutalism in St James Square: #MoultriesHill Part 2
The story so far: In Part One, the vibrant mixed community of St James Square slowly declined under exploitative, ever-neglectful landlords.Part Two: 1955-2000The first stirrings of change came from Her Majesty’s Government.In the mid 1950s, HMG, in the form of the Ministry of Public Building & Works, was looking for somewhere to house Scotland’s fast-growing, … [Read more...] about New Brutalism in St James Square: #MoultriesHill Part 2
The tangled history of Edinburgh St James
Rack followed ruin and ruin begat rack.Edinburgh is held to be among the most beautiful cities in the world. The sweeping curves, terraces and gardens of the New Town an example of inspired urban planning, a masterpiece of symmetry and grace – for those who could afford to live there.Other, nearby, parts of the city have not fared so well. In this fascinating new three … [Read more...] about The tangled history of Edinburgh St James
Regeneration: promise or threat to city vitality?
Regeneration. What does it mean? A threat or a promise? Who's it for? Who benefits most from the redevelopment of city centres, the transformation of community assets into commercial investments?Our thanks to Genghis the Gardener (a former citizen of Edinburgh now living in London) for sending his poem Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Council. Written for Haringey on Burns … [Read more...] about Regeneration: promise or threat to city vitality?