Global Study Group

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and its second largest city, after Glasgow. Edinburgh is 45 miles away from Glasgow, 15 from Livingston.

It is in the south-east of Scotland, on the east coast of Scotland's "Central Belt", on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, on the North Sea and, because of its rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture including numerous stone tenements, it is one of the most dramatic cities in Europe.
It forms the City of Edinburgh council area; the city council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30sq mile rural area.
It has been the capital of Scotland since 1437 (replacing Scone) and is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, gaining the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city[3]. In the census of 2001, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 448,624.
Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival, is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Other notable events include the Hogmanay street party (31 December), Burns Night (25 January), St. Andrew's Day (November 30), and the Beltane celebrations (30 April).
The city is one of Europe's major tourist destinations, attracting roughly 13 million visitors a year, and is the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom, after London.

Climate
Like much of the rest of Scotland, Edinburgh has a temperate maritime climate, which is relatively mild despite its northerly latitude. Winters are especially mild, considering that Moscow and Labrador in Newfoundland lie on the same latitude, with daytime temperatures rarely falling below freezing. Summer temperatures are normally moderate, with daily upper maxima rarely exceeding 28 ?C. The proximity of the city to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills it is renowned as a windy city, with the prevailing wind direction coming from the south-west which is associated with warm, unstable air from the Gulf Stream that can give rise to rainfall - although far less than cities to the west such as Glasgow. Indeed Edinburgh has a lower annual precipitation than most UK cities outside the south-east, and over 100 mm less than Dublin. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but colder. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Vigorous Atlantic depressions - sometimes called European windstorms can affect the city between October and March.

Economy
Main article: Economy of Edinburgh
Edinburgh has the strongest economy of any city in the UK outside London. The strength of Edinburgh's economy is reflected by its GDP per capita, which was measured at £27,600 (?40,700, $55,000) in 2004. The economy of Edinburgh and its hinterland has recently been announced as one of the fastest growing city regions in Europe. Education and health, finance and business services, retailing and tourism are the largest employers. The economy of Edinburgh is largely based around the services sector ? centred around banking, financial services, higher education, and tourism. Unemployment in Edinburgh is low at 2.2%, which has been consistently below the Scottish average.

Banking has been a part of the economic life of Edinburgh for over 300 years with the invention of capitalism in the city, with the establishment of the Bank of Scotland by an act of the original Parliament of Scotland in 1695. Their headquarters are on the Mound, overlooking Princes Street. Today, together with the burgeoning financial services industry, with particular strengths in insurance and investment underpinned by the presence Edinburgh based firms such as Scottish Widows and Standard Life, Edinburgh has emerged as Europe?s sixth largest financial centre. The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation, opened their new global headquarters at Gogarburn in the west of the city in October 2005; their registered office remains in St. Andrew Square.
Manufacturing has never had as strong presence in Edinburgh compared to Glasgow; however brewing, publishing, and nowadays electronics have maintained a foothold in the city. Whilst brewing has been in decline in recent years, with the closure of the McEwan's Brewery in 2005, Caledonian Brewery remains as the largest, with Scottish and Newcastle retaining their headquarters in the city.
Universities and colleges
The University of Edinburgh was founded by Royal Charter in 1583,[29] and is the fourth oldest university in Scotland, after St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The Old College on South Bridge opened in the 1820s. As the institution continued to expand, new buildings were constructed around George Square, where the heart of the university remains, and the King's Buildings campus in southern Edinburgh. A third campus at Little France was established in 2002. Development of the University's estate continues on all three campuses in the 21st century.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh were established by Royal Charter, in 1506 and 1681 respectively. The Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh was established in 1760,[30] an institution that became the Edinburgh College of Art in 1907.
In the 1960s Heriot-Watt University and Napier Technical College were established. Heriot-Watt traces its origins to 1821, when a school for technical education of the working classes was opened. Heriot-Watt continues to have a strong reputation in engineering, and is based at Riccarton, in the west of the city.
Napier College, renamed Napier Polytechnic in 1986, gained university status in 1992. Napier University has several campuses in the south and west of the city, including the former Craiglockhart Hydropathic (of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen fame) and Merchiston Tower (the family home of John Napier). The University contains several specialised research centres (including the Centre for Timber Engineering, the International Teledemocracy Centre and a large business school. In 2005 the University secured Skillset Screen Academy status for its film courses and now operates (in conjunction with Edinburgh College of Art) the Screen Academy Scotland, one of six accredited centres in the UK. Queen Margaret University was founded in 1875 as a women's college, and today specialises in healthcare, theatre, media, hospitality and business.
Other colleges offering further education in Edinburgh include Telford College, opened in 1968, and Stevenson College, opened in 1970. Basil Paterson offers courses in languages and teaching. The Scottish Agricultural College also has a campus in south Edinburgh.