Planning Guidance - Edinburgh Design Guidance
Context
Context relates to how design responds to the surrounding area. This includes the immediate neighbourhood and the wider city. It also includes how the area will change in the future.
This section covers:
- Responding well to context and place
- Incorporating and enhancing existing features
- Considering the visual impact of development on the skyline and protected views
- Taking a coordinated approach to development
Please note, we have included guidance on how to respond well to heritage throughout the document. This includes built heritage, landscape and townscape character. This is to reflect the integral role of heritage within the design of development in Edinburgh. There is a page at the end of the survey where you can give feedback on how effective you feel this is.
Please see the relevant section of the guidance below:
(To see the guidance full screen, please click on ">>" and then "Presentation Mode")
Related Information
Glossary of key terms
Built Heritage - The city’s buildings and built spaces of special value.
Character - The patterns we recognise around us that makes one place distinct from another.
Conservation Area - An area designated under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 as being of special architectural or historic interest, the character and interest of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.
Density - The floorspace or number of dwellings in a development divided by its land area.
Immediate Outlook - The foreground of what can be seen from within a building. Does not include medium or long views from properties.
Landmark - An object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that enables someone to establish their location.
Landscape - How we see the land around us and how it has been shaped by people and nature.
Listed Building - A building identified by Historic Scotland as being of special architectural or historical interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997. Categorised A, B, C(s) to reflect their relative importance.
Masterplan - A detailed document that explains how a site or sites will be developed, usually prepared by or on behalf of the landowner, including a representation of the three-dimensional form of proposals and an implementation programme.
Natural heritage - The natural features, spaces and landscapes that are of special value.
Sense of Place - Our perception of a place, including the attachments and meanings we associate with that place.
Sky Space - The space around the city’s landmark features that will protect their integrity.
Townscape - The patterns we recognise in the built-up area, including the type and layout of buildings and the open spaces between them.
Urban Grain - The arrangement or pattern of the buildings and streets within the built form.