For Malcolm Fraser, another fast-rising architectural star who designed the new lottery-funded Dancebase on the Grassmarket and the earlier Scottish Poetry Library, the biggest problems are the carving-up of the Leith waterfront, and plans for new shopping malls in the centre. “People go to Glasgow to shop. Fine. Why not have a bullet-train that gets you to Glasgow in 20 minutes?” he asks. “Why do the cities have to fight each other all the time?”

As for poor commercial architecture, Fraser argues that it isn’t necessarily the fault of the city planners. “The committee wants more good modern design, not pastiche. They’re desperate for good architecture. But the majority of the stuff they’re presented with is by the big commercial practices. There’s not an appreciation of the architectural talent that’s here on the ground.” And there is no time to lose, he warns: “We should be planning ahead - but things are happening a little too late. So we’re getting all these monocultural office buildings, dressed up in grey business suits.”

These views are from architects who are doing pretty nicely, thank you, who are widely recognized as excellent, but who are so far largely excluded from the world of pile-it-high commercial building. You can’t help wincing at some of the excesses, such as when you see the back of the Financial Centre from Rutland Square, or the pink-and-beige International Hotel frontage in Grassmarket. But Edinburgh is still wonderful. It has by no means been wrecked. It is a city to envy. Which is why everyone wants to come here, which is what causes the problem. So by all means get in a Design Czar to keep things from going pear-shaped. True, he or she should have arrived before the late 1990s boom, not after. But better late than never, eh?

Exemplary guide to Edinburgh architecture new and old: www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk