Addressing urban sprawl in Scotland

Thinking about how modernisation and urban sprawl have affected the central belt - the gap between the metropolitan areas of Scottish cities Edinburgh and Glasgow - is how student Daniel Davis spent his holidays.

The fourth-year architecture student was one of two New Zealanders to win a British Council Cityscapers: By the Throat scholarship to attend a two-week studio at the University of Edinburgh.

One of a group of forty artists, urban planners, designers and architects, Daniel worked with Australian student Ashley Dennis to create seven poster-sized digitally-altered images of places within the central belt.

"The images are subtle modifications of reality. They give the impression of an alternative neither explicitly of the future nor of today."

He says the idea behind creating the part-real part-digital images was so their additions and the existing photograph were hard to separate. "The effect of that is that the viewer has to question both our intervention and the existing environment."

Daniel says he enjoyed taking photographs in the towns on the outskirts of the two cities, parts of which are being demolished in order to address social problems block housing has created.

While in Edinburgh the groups' work was presented to an urban planning meeting between the regional authorities, and Daniel says he hopes this will raise awareness of the area.

"I think it's a positive first step and a follow on to that will be that people will examine the transportation system between the cities with a lot more consideration for communities in the central belt."

The work created during the studio has formed an exhibition that will now tour through Europe, Asia and Australasia.

The studio was the first of a series of three funded by the British Council.