I live in Edinburgh, I love Edinburgh and I love its people. It’s heart-warming to be constantly told by visitors, and by students from elsewhere in the U.K. or overseas, how much the warmth and friendliness of the people here has impressed them.

In March 2024 I launched People of Edinburgh as an open-ended, city-wide street interview and photography project to meet as many Edinburgh residents as possible and to listen to their stories, their views, their joys and their struggles. Their willingness to engage has been quite remarkable. Thank you!

It may be a surprise, therefore, to know that Edinburgh is a lonely city. Over 30 per cent of its residents say they don’t feel connected to or a part of a community (Edinburgh Evening News, 17 Feb. 2024.) One Edinburgh resident told me, “We’ve never been so connected, yet so disconnected.”

This is a human interest project, and so I hope that these stories will be an encouragement to challenge the narrative cycles of emotional loneliness: I’m different, no-one cares, no-one understands, strangers can’t be trusted, it’s a cold world out there - the list goes on. (If you are affected by loneliness do click here for help and advice.) For those of us who are fortunate enough not to be lonely I hope, among many other things, that ‘People of Edinburgh’ will raise awareness of the issue and encourage more connections with those who are.

Because in Edinburgh, as everywhere else, it’s people that matter most.