Truman Show planner Andres Duany to build Scots eco-towns
Andres Duany, an American architect and urban planner who designed the setting for the Hollywood blockbuster The Truman Show, is to help create pioneering low-carbon communities in Scotland.
Duany, who also redesigned parts of Louisiana and Mississippi destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, will help build three new eco-towns in Fife, Aberdeen and Dumfries as part of a 10-year project supported by the government.
The sustainable communities will feature energy-efficient homes which are close to offices and amenities to reduce people's reliance on cars.
Duany, who will host a series of design workshops in Scotland this week, planned the Florida town of Seaside, which was the idealised backdrop for the 1998 drama in which Jim Carrey finds he is the unwitting star of a reality TV show.
Among the plans that he will discuss tomorrow with council leaders and architecture and design professionals is an expansion of the north side of Aberdeen, with the possibility of building 7,000 new homes.
Meanwhile, the Ladyfield project in Dumfries would create up to 400 energy-efficient homes and large and small business premises to allow people to live within easy walking distance of their workplaces.
In Fife, plans are being developed to extend the former mining village of Lochgelly with 1,750 new homes, and create environmentally friendly connections to the existing town centre.
"Scotland has got its own parliament, its own planning laws, and it's looking around the world to see what is best practice - and not necessarily seeking the English model," said Duany. "They want the planning system to be more efficient than in England, where it is very slow and creates a great deal of expense, which is transferred into expensive houses.
"Given the diversity of sites, it should be possible to explore a broad range of techniques, all in the hope of contributing to the new planning system being developed for Scotland."
The project, which will be unveiled tomorrow by Nicola Sturgeon, the deputy first minister, is part of the government's Scottish sustainable communities initiative.
Eight other eco-towns are being built - An Camas Mor in Aviemore, Craigmillar in Edinburgh, Knockroon in Cumnock, Maryhill Locks and Speirs Locks in Glasgow, Raploch in Stirling, Tornagrain near Inverness, and Whitecross in Linlithgow.
"Scotland is leading the way on reducing our carbon footprint and introducing modern measures to help meet our ambitious climate change targets," said Sturgeon.
"Creating sustainable communities will help us become less reliant on fuel consumption and boost our standard of living.
"This goes hand in hand with helping people to reduce household fuel bills, work locally and being able to walk to the shops and work without relying on a car.
"I know the projects are incredibly excited to have a unique opportunity to develop their ideas for aspirational sustainable developments with the support of Andres Duany."
Sturgeon added that the projects would also provide a welcome boost for the construction sector, which has been struggling during the recession.
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