 FaIR maid of Edinburgh, city of elegance and grace, where, oh where, art thou? Buried, it seems, under unending tramworks rubble. Look on these works, ye mighty, and despair: seldom has Scotland's capital, one of the most graceful and pleasing of Europe's great cities, seemed so beleaguered.  Visitors to Edinburgh today can be forgiven for thinking they have stumbled onto the set of a Hollywood disaster movie, a reconstruction of some pocket civil war as we battle with street upheavals, closures and diversions. There is the constant din of pneumatic drills. Utility repairs, scattered like jagged shell holes after a relentless bombardment, pockmark the city centre.  There is the mushrooming of road sign admonitions. Every crawling route through the rubble is marked by snaking lines of traffic cones leading to yet another set of temporary traffic lights teasingly flashing green for a fraction of the time they are stuck at red. Delay, disruption, anger and despair attend every journey through a city so proud of its decorum and repose. What has happened to the noble capital at peace with itself? Where has it gone?  and what a metaphor all this seems for a deeper misery that has clouded a face so fair: the grey, impenetrable haar of economic downturn. Unemployment is up. Vacancies are down. Shops and businesses are closing. Development sites have long been abandoned to tattered boarding, rusty fencing, dog mess and bindweed. The two pillars of a once-confident financial sector mark the business landscape like bleeding stumps. New Town fund managers trip over the cobbles as their BlackBerries ping with the latest stock market slide. Seldom has the city looked more down at heel, and the prospect of new shoes so remote.  Were this a fair or comprehensive summary of the city's fortunes, we might as well throw in the towel now. Fortunately, I am glad to report that it is not. The outward and visible mess of the tramworks has masked a more enduring and positive reality: Edinburgh has fared better through this downturn than comparable UK cities and has every prospect of growth and expansion in the years ahead. There is great potential in sectors such as life sciences, renewable energy, arts and creative industries, education and, yes, even financial services.  What a modest and deceptive story Edinburgh presents to the world. It trades, with great success, on its attraction as a city steeped in culture, history and Hanseatic architecture, its spires and closes untouched by time. But beneath this noble exterior, seemingly indifferent to the world of economic activity, much has stirred. This genteel lady of mature years, borne into the 21st century like a dowager duchess in a sedan chair, has been growing like the clappers.  Over the last decade, the population of Edinburgh and its wider city region has grown at a faster rate than that of Scotland and the UK. a similar trend is projected for the next ten years. Between 1998 and 2008, the economy of Edinburgh and the city region measured in terms of gross value added (GVa) increased at a faster rate than the UK economy. The increase, from GBP8.9 billion to just over GBP16bn, marked an annual average growth rate of 6.2 per cent - a pace more akin to a developing country economy.  While GVa dropped in 2009 in the immediate wake of the global financial crisis, its resilience has been remarkable. The consensus across various key forecasters is that future growth will average 2.7 per cent a year, accompanied by strong employment growth.  The city has a higher than average representation of large employers. The city region accounts for a quarter of Scotland's businesses and, on a per capita basis, Edinburgh is home to more businesses than Manchester, Leeds or Glasgow.  It is a haven for small firms. almost 90 per cent of all businesses in the city and city region employ fewer than 50 people. Business start-up rates compare well with Scottish standards (but lag other parts of the UK).  The city's economy benefits from a highly skilled workforce: nearly half the working-age population is educated to degree level, more than 10 per cent higher than the Scottish and UK averages.  The city region has performed strongly in attracting inward investment, with Edinburgh recently ranked as the fourth most attractive location across Europe.  The visitor economy has continued to thrive, with the city attracting five million 