“Fundamental human needs to engage with others have not changed greatly over the centuries. This understanding is at the heart of the development of 7N’s masterplan at West Town, creating a placemaking framework for a new 20 minute neighbourhood that future residents can make their own.”

As part of the latest RIAS Quarterly publication on urban housing, 7N Architects’s Lisa Blyth and Amy Drabble were invited to contribute with an article exploring the themes that influenced the design of our West Town project.

The masterplan for the Drum Property Group, for 68 hectares of land on the western edge of the City of Edinburgh, will contribute 7,000 homes and associated mixed-uses to help address Edinburgh’s acute housing needs. In scale alone, West Town represents one of the most significant urban expansions of any Scottish city in decades and one of the largest urban developments currently in planning in the UK.

Lisa and Amy describe in the article how our team’s experience and placemaking approach, enabled us to tackle a project of this scale in a manner that keeps people at the heart of the all decisions — a people first approach to create pleasant streets and spaces that facilitate walking and the spontaneous play and social interaction that comes with having a walkable neighbourhood. The result is a place where a parent would feel comfortable letting their 7-year-old walk, wheel or cycle to school.

We’d like to thank the RIAS Quarterly editorial team for including this feature in their publication and we hope you enjoy reading it.