paperback. Zustand: Very Good. Light wear, slight creasing to top corner, binding sound, internally clean. It would be natural to assume that the large amount of new construction in Edinburgh is a consequence of its restored role as a capital city with political purpose, signified most dramatically by the siting here of the new Scottish parliament. But factors more mundane than the urgings of the 'democratic spirit' can explain this spate of building. In particular Edinburgh's position as the fourth-biggest financial centre in Europe; the incidence of developer rather than open competitions; and the invitation extended to the American modernist architect Richard Meier to come up with a masterplan for the design of Edinburgh Park business centre, have brought responses to the city's 197os love-affair with the motor-car and to the resultant problems of a fractured city. Around a hundred entries in this book give a framework for under-standing what all this means for Edinburgh's built environment and for reading recent architectural design in the city. Johnny Rodger is a writer who lives and works in Glasgow.