Home / Series / BBC Documentaries / Aired Order / Season 2016 / Episode 270

New Town (Edinburgh)

250 years ago, Edinburgh launched a competition to design a 'New Town' for the Scottish capital. The city desperately needed an upgrade - it was overcrowded, filthy and crumbling. With Scotland a partner in the new United Kingdom, it needed a capital to be proud of. At the same time, Edinburgh was seen as the intellectual capital of Europe - with Adam Smith, David Hume and other figures of the 'Scottish Enlightenment' creating an explosion of creative ideas that would change the world. The winning plan by James Craig was a masterpiece of Georgian city planning that reflected these Enlightenment ideas. This film tells the story of how the plan was made real - becoming the most ambitious building project in Britain, and transforming Edinburgh into the most perfect Georgian city on Earth.

English
  • Originally Aired September 20, 2016
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Content Rating United States of America TV-PG
  • Production Code b07x0qw4
  • Network BBC
  • Created September 26, 2016 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified September 26, 2016 by
    Administrator admin