A Vigorous Institution

The Living Legacy Of Patrick Geddes

Walter M. Stephen; Aubrey Manning; James Mackinnon

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Patrick Geddes was an original thinker and innovator, an internationalist steeped in Scottishness. His achievements included conservation projects in the Old Town of Edinburgh and in London; community development through greening the urban environment; and plans for Dunfermline, Cyprus, Tel Aviv and over 50 Indian cities.

Geddes was a polymath, a highly complex character. A Vigorous Institution brings together a team of many talents to take a fresh look at Geddes and his place in the world today. What is his influence on planning policies in the new, devolved Scotland? Why do his ideas resonate still in Japan, India and Catalunya?

Aspects of his life are re-examined in an attempt to understand further his thinking. How much of an anarchist was he? How influential were his home and childhood experiences? Why did he change his name and why - till the publication of this book - was his birthhouse shrouded in mystery?

"He was one of the outstanding thinkers of his generation, not merely in the world, and not only one of the greatest Scotsmen of the past century but in our entire history." Hugh Macdiarmid

"One might get the impression that Professor Geddes is a vigorous institution, rather than a man." Lewis Mumford

A Vigorous Institution is full of tangible reminders of Geddes's life and work, but more important is the living legacy; the dozens of followers who are trying to put into effect, in the 21st century, ideas he was pouring forth in his own lifetime.