Edinburgh Napier University

  Sustainable communities are seen as offering the opportunity to manage growth in developments that are plan-led and which are environmentally-friendly. This paper examines the development of sustainable communities in the South East Wedge of Edinburgh and shows that while the growth management strategy is clearly plan-led, the degree to which the settlement model and design solution put forward are environmentally friendly is questionable. It goes on to suggest these questions arise from the narrow definition of environmental-friendly adopted by the settlement model and design solution. The paper criticises the definition of environmentally-friendly as greening economic development and making it financially viability as too narrow and restrictive. Acting on this critique of environmentally-friendly found in the new urbanist and urban village literature, the paper goes on to examine the ecological integrity, equity and participation sustainable communities need to manage growth in plan-led developments. It goes on to suggest the absence of such qualities is critical because ecological integrity, equity and question of participation relate to not just to growth management, development planning, settlement models or design solutions, but governance of sustainable communities. After establishing how to replace the definition of environmental-friendly found in the new urbanist and urban village literature, the paper goes on to set out how the broader definition of ecological integrity, equity and participation, enables a balance to be struck between the growth management, development planning, settlement model and design solution needs of the aforementioned school(s) and governance requirement advanced by others more concerned about the protocol(s) to follow and assessment methods to adopt for evaluating the futurity of the sustainable community proposals put forward.