City of Edinburgh, SCT - Postcode - EH16 4HT

Edinburgh

The Scottish capital, Edinburgh, is also one of the country's 32 council areas. Located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, it was formerly a part of the county of Midlothian (also known as Edinburghshire before 1921). Edinburgh, after Glasgow, is Scotland's second-most populous city and the seventh-most populous in the entire United Kingdom.

Because of its long history as Scotland's capital, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, and Scotland's highest courts. The British royal family resides in the city's Palace of Holyroodhouse. Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences, and engineering have all had a long history of prominence in the city's educational landscape. The city's historical and cultural attractions helped it become the second-most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom in 2018, with 4.9 million visitors, including 2.4 million from abroad. According to Time Out, Edinburgh is the best city in the world in the year 2022.

Official estimates place Edinburgh's population at 506,520 by mid-2020 for the locality, 518,500 by mid-2019 for the City of Edinburgh council area, which includes some outlying villages in its western territory, and 1,384,950 by mid-2019 for the wider Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region, which also includes East Lothian, Fife, Midlothian, the Scottish Borders, and West Lothian.

The annual meeting of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly takes place in the city. Several important Scottish cultural institutions are located there, including the National Museum of Scotland, the Scottish National Gallery, and the Scottish National Library. Edinburgh University, one of the city's three universities, was established in 1582 and is consistently ranked among the best in the world for academic research. It was recently ranked 15th in the world by the QS World University Rankings for 2023. Additionally, Edinburgh hosts the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the largest annual international arts festival in the world. The extensive Georgian New Town constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries is just one of many examples of Edinburgh's rich architectural history, alongside Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars, and the Canongate, and many more. Both the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been administered by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999.

Geography

Edinburgh is on the southern coast of the Firth of Forth, in the Central Belt of Scotland. The city center is located about 2 miles and a half (4 kilometers) from the shore of Leith to the southwest, and about 26 miles (42 kilometers) inland from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar. Calton Hill, Corstorphine Hill, Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill, Blackford Hill, Arthur's Seat, and the Castle Rock are among the seven hills that make up the modern city, which has inspired comparisons to Rome and its famed seven hills.

Located between the Pentland Hills and their forerunners to the south and the Firth of Forth to the north, the city sprawls over a landscape formed by early volcanic activity and subsequent periods of intense glaciation. Tough basalt volcanic plugs predominate throughout much of the area, the result of igneous activity and faulting between 350 and 400 million years ago. For instance, the Castle Rock is a crag and tail formation because the advancing ice sheet was forced to split, protecting the softer rock and leaving a 1 mi (1.6 km) tail of material to the east. The valley to the north of the crag was carved by glacial erosion, and it was filled by the Nor Loch before it was drained. Combined with a similar hollow on the south face of the rock, these topographical characteristics made the future site of Edinburgh Castle a strategically superior fortification. Comparatively, Arthur's Seat is what's left of a volcano that erupted in the Carboniferous era, and it was eroded by a glacier that moved from west to east during the Ice Age. The rocky crags in the west were exposed by erosional processes like plucking and abrasion, and a tail of deposited glacial material swept eastward. The distinctive Salisbury Crags, a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the site of the early burgh, were formed as a result of this process. South of the city center, along a series of drumlin ridges deposited by the retreating glacier, are the residential neighborhoods of Marchmont and Bruntsfield. 

Glacial erosion also shaped other prominent landforms in the area, including Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill. Located to the south of the downtown area, the Braid Hills and Blackford Hill provide stunning vistas of the city and the Firth of Forth to the north.

The Water of Leith is a river that flows from the Pentland Hills, through the south and west of Edinburgh, and into the Firth of Forth at Leith. It begins its journey at the Colzium Springs. At Dean Village on the north-western edge of the New Town, a deep gorge is spanned by Thomas Telford's Dean Bridge, built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry, marking the closest the river gets to the city center. In its 19.6 kilometers (12.2 miles) from Balerno to Leith, the Water of Leith Walkway serves as a multi-use path along the river's path.

A green belt was established in 1957, running from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east, and encompassing the entirety of Edinburgh except for the shoreline of the Firth of Forth. The green belt's primary goals, with an average width of 3.2 km (2 mi), were to restrict the city's outward expansion and stop the clustering of urban areas. Edinburgh Airport and the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston are two developments that are located within the green belt but are not subject to the zone's expansion restrictions. Suburbs like Juniper Green and Balerno share a similar setting, being located on protected forest land. Parts of the city itself in Edinburgh are considered green belt, despite the fact that they do not directly join up with the outer ring. Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill are two such autonomous hunks of green space in Edinburgh.

Economy

With 43% of the population holding a degree or professional qualification, Edinburgh has the highest percentage of professionals in the UK, and the strongest economy of any city in the United Kingdom outside of London. It has been deemed the most competitive major city in the UK by the Centre for International Competitiveness. Not only does it have the highest gross value added per employee in the United Kingdom (at £57,594 in 2010), but it is also the second largest city in the country after London. In the Financial Times fDi magazine awards 2012/13, it was named European Best Large City of the Future for Foreign Direct Investment and Best Large City for Foreign Direct Investment Strategy.

Banking and insurance, printing books, and distilling alcoholic beverages were major industries in Edinburgh's economy in the 19th century. Services related to banking, science, teaching, and travel now constitute the bulk of its economy. The unemployment rate in Edinburgh was 3.6% in March of 2010, well below the 4.5% Scottish average. When it comes to international tourists, Edinburgh ranks just behind London as Britain's second most popular destination.

Edinburgh's banking industry has been vital since the Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695 thanks to an act of the Scottish Parliament. Edinburgh is now the UK's second financial center after London and Europe's fourth in terms of equity assets thanks to the thriving financial services industry, particularly the insurance and investment sectors supported by Edinburgh-based firms like Scottish Widows and Standard Life Aberdeen. In October 2005, the NatWest Group (then known as the Royal Bank of Scotland Group) relocated its international headquarters to Gogarburn in the western part of the city. Multiple financial institutions call the city home, including Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury's Bank, Tesco Bank, and TSB Bank.

Another vital sector of the city's economy is tourism. Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and the Old and New Towns all draw visitors because of the city's status as a World Heritage Site. The annual Edinburgh Festivals, held in the month of August, draw in an estimated 4.4 million visitors and are estimated to contribute over £100 million to the local economy.

The public sector is crucial to Edinburgh's economy because it is the seat of Scottish government and law. The city is home to a number of Scottish government agencies. The National Health Service of Scotland and local government administration are also large employers in the country. Gross Value Added (GVA) contributed by the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region was estimated at £33 billion in 2018 when the £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal was signed. Recognizing the region's strengths in technology and data science, the growing importance of the data economy, and the need to tackle the digital skills gap, the City Region Deal finances a number of "Data Driven Innovation" hubs that are using data to innovate in the region.