Murray Pittock, Enlightenment in a Smart City: Edinburgh's Civic Development, 1660–1750. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019. x + 285pp. 23 figures. Bibliography. £80.00 hbk. £19.99 pbk.

Abstract

Pittock has established himself as an eighteenth-century British historian of impressive range. Here he turns to urban history, material culture history and a demonstration of how Edinburgh became an enlightened capital of European significance between 1660 and 1750. 'Enlightenment' is here defined capaciously as a culture pursuing the 'application of reason to knowledge in a context of material improvement' (p. 14). The 'dynamic basis for intellectual change' is not to be found in instances of heroic intellectual achievement but in the changing functioning of Edinburgh's cultural superstructureespecially its 'distinctive ecology of [urban] networks' (pp. 16-17). It was, he argues, a 'smart city' due to its 'connected leadership and engaged citizens' (p. 19). The 'mechanics' driving forward Enlightenment are not philosophical works but socio-cultural factors such as a resident nobility ideologically and personally aligned with the professions, the existence of strong professional institutions, noble patronage at work within these institutions, theological conflict between moderates and conservatives within the Church of Scotland, compact living and employment conditions encouraging the flow of ideas, a resulting associational life which transcended social (though not gender) divisions, literary and artistic innovation and an increasingly diverse citizenry. All of these factors are in place in Edinburgh in the late seventeenth century and they account for the city's zest for material improvement. Pittock's introduction contains the bulk of his argument. The subsequent chapters are less analysis-heavy and offer rich, often dense, arrangements of evidence and incident. Edinburgh's Enlightenment-inducing qualities were a consequence of it being a royal capital, with the associated benefits of investment on institutional infrastructure, and the centre of Scotland's diplomatic, intellectual and commercial overseas networks. The Union of 1707, and the relocation of political power to London, did not alter the high concentration of nobility and professionals in the city, but rather encouraged their focus on civil improvements. Pittock details how the emergence of Moderatism within the Kirk and the rise of key associations were the result of 'association, hybridisation and fusion of the professions' (p. 110). Pittock emphasizes the multicultural quality of Edinburgh's population stemming from its globalized commercial and Europe-facing, specifically Dutch, university networks. The longest chapter assesses the 'growing circulation of visual art' and its relationship to the 'advance of consumerism, cosmopolitanism and innovation'