This is North Scotland

Think about your home for a moment. Did you help design it, choose its location or its architectural style? Is it the ideal property in which to spend your life? Is it simply somewhere to live because it's convenient for your work and income? Do you even like it? Apart from a fortunate few, most of us live in homes that someone else decided we needed, in a place where they decided we needed them, and of a style they decided we wanted. The result is acres of cloned houses devouring the landscape. In Inverness, the problem is acute. The once-benign Highland capital is bursting at the seams and is one of Europe's fastest-growing cities. In the past 30 years, its population has doubled and is expected to double again in the next three decades. With thousands more homes needed, developers' eyes are focused on the A96 corridor, between Inverness and Nairn. But as local authorities, agencies and residents wrestle with the dilemmas of massive development, one man is viewing the situation in a revolutionary way. His method, tried and tested worldwide, is coming in a fortnight to Scotland for the first time. If you haven't heard of a charrette, you soon will.