'A tartan nightmare, shallow and garish' threatens Edinburgh

The Herald Scotland

03-06-2025

His love is inspired by a city strikingly shaped by the natural landscape upon which it is built and 'goes up and down, surprises us with sudden vistas, gives plenty of scope for shifts of light and mood.'
The writer talks about the capital's architecture, which provides 'a certain harmony and balance that is implicit in its structure as a town', but warns that it is an environment which has to be carefully protected.
'Edinburgh risks being hollowed out by tourist-focused developments and by the mushrooming of student accommodation,' McCall Smith writes. 'A concomitant of these trends is the destruction of its character as a real city, and its replacement as a Disneyfied conglomeration of bars, German markets, and big wheels. A tartan nightmare, shallow and garish, is just round the corner unless the sheer volume of tourist traffic is tamed.'
The Herald's The Future of Edinburgh series:
He also considers the impact of the city's people, both those who live and work within its boundaries, but the transient millions who pack the high streets on day trips and holidays.
'There is a limit to the influx of visitors that any city can take before it buckles under the strain,' he writes. 'Look at Barcelona; look at Venice. Will the well-behaved residents of Edinburgh take to the streets against tourism as has happened elsewhere?'
Day one of the series identifies the big issues facing the city, ranging from housing to the future of Princes Street. Among a package of features and articles examining one of Scotland's most famous promenades an interactive map shows what's happening – and what's coming next.
The Herald reporter, Vicky Allan, who on day one looks at how backlash over the Roseburn Path could derail the city's new tram plan, writes of The Future of Edinburgh series: 'Frequently when we think of Edinburgh, we think about its past.
'But at the Herald, for our latest series, we have chosen to look towards its future - for how it rises to the challenge of a growing population in a world in which tourism, climate, energy supply, how we shop, spend our leisure time, build our homes, are all changing, is crucial.'
Read Alexander McCall Smith's love letter in full here. And read all of the articles in The Herald's The Future of Edinburgh series here.