Abstract

This archive report discusses the files contained in EAA Rowse's papers in the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Research Collections. Rowse was a leading figure in planning education in mid-century Britain who is nevertheless somewhat peripheral in the intellectual history of planning. The article gives a brief biographical overview and analyses the key themes present in the archive, namely Rowse's anxiety about the future and his belief in planning as the only way to avoid a potentially species-ending catastrophe. It contextualises some of his ideas and examines his conceptualisation of the 'composite mind' in particular through a close analysis of the various notes and reports in the archive.