"How useful did you find the site, and the written sources, for answering this question?"

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Essay on Question: “How useful did you find the site, and the written sources, for answering this question?”

Duncan-Peter Chisholm

        During this essay I will be commenting on the usefulness of the sources which I have used to study the architectural structure of the city of Edinburgh’s New Town, widely considered as the part of the city which is the reason for its billing as the, “Athens of the North.” The sources were used, obviously in a historical context, to answer the questions of whether there was evidence to support the idea that the New Town was designed for, “genteel and civilised living,” and, “grandeur.”

        I used two maps, one showing only the First New Town, the other the Second New Town, to study, in particular, the structure of the streets -should there be any- and also to study the differences between the shapes of the streets of both the first and second areas.

        I found the maps especially useful to observe structure changes that went on during the building of the second area, such as the fact that the Second New Town contained more crescents. This was extremely useful also, when I decided to investigate the influence of the, “educated men,” in Edinburgh at that time, to see, for example, if Lord Cockburn’s rather uncomplimentary observation of the First New Town was a catalyst for change.

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        The television documentaries, unfortunately, did not really stimulate or inspire me in the way which I had hoped. I felt that they were very much created to rake in viewers rather than inform me accurately of the New Town’s history and architectural structure, including change between the First and Second New Town’s styles through narration. The images produced on the documentaries were marginally useful in the way that they could be used as evidence to show the difference in road layouts. I felt sorry that the programmes were so uncomplimentary of the First New Town, and that they seemed biased ...

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