Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and is the 7th most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is home to the Scottish Parliament, as well as many national institutions, such as the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. A major European financial centre, Edinburgh is home to firms including RBS, Aberdeen Standard Life and the UK Green Investment Bank. The city has strengths in education and research, software development and life sciences and has four universities with the University of Edinburgh, being ranked in the world's top 20. 45% of working-age residents are university graduates, making Edinburgh one of the UK’s best educated cities.
The city has many historic buildings and the city's Old Town and New Town are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival, which, since its inception in 1947, has given rise to many other festivals, among them the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - the world’s biggest arts festival. The city’s historical and cultural attractions, together with an annual calendar of events aimed primarily at the tourist market, ensure a strong visitor economy, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year making it the second most popular tourist destination in the United Kingdom. In 2012 Edinburgh beat London, Paris and Barcelona to the title of ‘Europe’s Leading Destination’ at the World Travel Awards in Portugal, described by organisers as the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’.
With its wilderness, woodlands, lochs, ponds and links, Edinburgh is also a green city, including Princes Street Gardens, rated second and Holyrood Park, rated fourth in the a UK Traveller’s Choice Attraction Awards run by Tripadvisor. Both parks made Europe’s top 20 as part of the same awards.
Edinburgh's 2050 City Vision provides a charter for the city over the next 30 years and the Thriving Greenspaces Project aligns to this and captures the green, sustainable development component of the City Vision.
Looking forward, Edinburgh Council continues to work in partnership with The Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh University and others on our Living Landscape programme which has the objective of introducing more attractive, bio-rich meadows, shrub beds and woodlands across the city and the Million Tree City 2030 initiative sees Edinburgh join others cities like New York and London in replacing lost tree cover and significantly reducing carbon dioxide impact over the years ahead.
The Edinburgh Living Landscape is a network for nature in our city.
The programme will demonstrate that investment in the natural environment makes economic sense as well as increasing biodiversity and creating healthier urban ecosystems. To do this we need to integrate nature into neighbourhoods across the city.
The Edinburgh Living Landscape will work to benefit local people and wildlife with an aim to make the city one of the most sustainable in Europe by 2050.
Edinburgh is situated in Scotland's Central Belt, occupying a gap of land between the Firth of Forth to the north and Pentland Hills to the south. The landscape has been shaped by early volcanic activity and later periods of glaciation. The volcanic plug of Castle Rock and extinct volcano of Arthur’s Seat dominate the central city skyline. Edinburgh is drained by the Water of Leith, which rises in the Pentland Hills and empties into the Firth of Forth at Leith.
The city is encircled by a green belt, designated in 1957 with the principal objective to limit outward expansion of the city. A feature of Edinburgh’s green belt is the inclusion of ‘green wedges’ of land within the city, including Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill.
This project covers green spaces across Edinburgh, this densely populated urban city has an area of 264km with a population of 482,005. The unemployment rate in Edinburgh in the 12 months to March 2020 was 2.6%
The council’s green estate is 1520ha across parks, housing estates, schools, nature reserves, and roadsides. Of this:
- 58% is Standard Amenity Grassland
- 23% Woodland
- 9% Low Maintenance Grassland
- 6% Sports Pitches
- 2% Shrubs & Bedding
2% Play Areas, Water Features, Hedges etc
Edinburgh has over 140 public parks and12 natural heritage sites, including 34 Green Flag Parks. The Pentland Hills Regional Park covers a large area to the South and West of the city and is managed by the City of Edinburgh Council as are over 30 allotment sites. There are a number of sizeable privately-owned gardens and green spaces in the city with the world famous Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh being run by a charitable trust and Holyrood Park, which is managed by Historic Environment Scotland.
- increased biodiversity as birds, mammals and insects are attracted to wilder or more natural areas
- reduced costs of maintained areas of grassland
- added colour to the cityscape with flowering species
- reduction in CO2 release due to less cutting, which also helps lock-up carbon in soils.
- Support Urban Pollinators
- Reduce flood risk
- Reduce run-off
- Greater ecological connectivity across urban regenerated sites
- Improve connectivity and functionality of green and blue infrastructures
- Increase Biodiversity
- Increase quality and quantity of green and blue infrastructures
- Increased cultural richness and biodiversity
- Enhancing sustainable urbanisation
- Changing image of the urban environment
- Increase communities’ sense of ownership
- Increase stakeholder awareness & knowledge about NBS
The aim is to make Edinburgh an Urban exemplar of a Living Landscape approach to landscape and green estate management across Scotland, the UK and further afield.
Communication and explanation of landscape management changes to the wider public, elected members and also our own grounds maintenance staff has proved crucial. After initial scepticism and some opposition there has been a broad acceptance and increased awareness of why changes have been made.
The majority of funding for the Council's part of the Edinburgh Living Landscape programme comes from within our existing budgets. Grant funding for specific projects such as meandow planting is sought from external funders such as Nature Scot and other organisations.
David Jamieson
Parks & Greenspaces Manager
City of Edinburgh Council
- 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities