The Scotsman Steps

Before they're anything else, the Scotsman Steps have been a handy shortcut from the north edge of the Old Town to the southern perimeter of the New Town, running as they do from the side of the Scotsman Hotel on North Bridge down to the south entrance of Waverley Station. By 2009 they had fallen into serious disrepair, but the Fruitmarket Gallery (with the support of generous private donors and some public money) commissioned artist Martin Creed to find a way of renewing them, and Creed's simple and elegant solution was to replace each of the 104 steps with a different piece of marble from 26 countries around the world with Italy providing 45 different types.

Nine other countries, not represented with a step or two, also have marble including Britain, Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the United States of America.

The result – for all that it usually smells of either wee or disinfectant – is a genuinely beautiful and useful piece of public art.