Think Global, Act Local

Town planning. Interest-led, open-minded education. Preservation of buildings with historical worth. Community gardens. All are so central to modern society that our age tends to claim these notions as its own. In fact they were first visualised by Sir Patrick Geddes, a largely forgotten Victorian Scot and one of the greatest forward thinkers in history.

Gardener, biologist, conservationist, social evolutionist, peace warrior, and town planner, Geddes spent many years conserving and restoring Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile at a time when most decaying buildings were simply torn down. With renovation came educational ideas such as the development of the Outlook Tower, numerous summer schools and his Collège des Écossais in Montpellier. In India much of Geddes’s belief in people planning can be seen, taking the form of pedestrian zones, student accommodation for women, and urban diversification projects.

Think Global, Act Local: The Life and Legacy of Patrick Geddes examines the life of this important man, who in recent years has become almost a patron saint of the sustainable development movement, and the continuing relevance of his ideas and their place in our world, present and future.