ABSTRACT
The provision of shelter is one of the elementary necessities of life, particularly in a country with such a climate as Scotland usually suffers, and the establishment of a home has been a precondition of civilization. Scottish housing standards have always been backward. The chapter considers some Victorian essays and achievements, especially in the two great capital cities. The building of the "New Town" in the 'sixties and 'seventies of the eighteenth century may be regarded as the first Edinburgh City Improvement Scheme; and in 1827 an Act set up a Commission for that specific purpose which effected drastic alterations in the layout of the Old Town. The emphasis on the moral evils of bad housing conditions indicated by Dr. W. P. Alison was renewed by representatives of the Church, notably Rev. Dr. James Begg, who during the next two decades was the most active champion of reform.
