ABSTRACT
The on-going review of structure plans in the United Kingdom has highlighted the attractiveness of new settlements as an alternative to cramming, peripheral expansion and urban sprawl. This paper examines the argument for new settlements appearing in the Written Statement on Lothian's 1994 Structure Plan Review (Lothian Regional Council, 1994). It goes on to establish how the experiments going on in Edinburgh's South East Wedge are transforming the new settlement phenomenon in to the search for a plan-led, environmentally friendly and sustainable pattern of settlement. It draws attention to the Interim Development Framework put in place to support the plan-led, environmentally friendly experiment and settlement model adopted for such purposes. After making a number of observations on the development of sustainable communities in Edinburgh's South East Wedge, the paper draws some conclusions on the nature of the experiment.
