ST Andrew Square Garden is to be used as a live music venue for the first time ever.
Essential Edinburgh, the company that manages the garden, is hoping to provide free performances that would be in keeping with the "tranquil" surroundings. It hopes that the events would attract people into the city centre to spend money in bars and
shops.
It is inviting ideas from performers and aims to hold the first performances this summer.
They would be the first public performances to be held in the garden since it was opened to the public for the first time in its 238-year history exactly a year ago following a £2.6 million revamp.
Any performances would be non-amplified and are likely to include either classical or acoustic music.
Tom Campbell, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, said: "We have an open mind about what can happen. There are some restrictions as far as having loud music and rock music but probably one of the tests is we want the square to be somewhere that people don't have an audible or visual assault on their senses.
"There will still be some degree of tranquility but we certainly want to foster the idea of some sort of music in the square."
Essential Edinburgh, which was set up to run the city centre business improvement district (BID) and is funded by a rates levy paid by all companies located between Princes Street and George Street, wants to hold events year-round.
But it is also keen to work with Edinburgh's festivals to see what types of events in August could be held in the garden.
However, busking is not permitted in the garden because of licensing agreements with the square's owners and the company is keen to avoid ticketed events because of the level of policing and stewarding that would be required, so any events would have to be free.
A recent survey by Essential Edinburgh of 350 people visiting St Andrew Square found that music was the type of event most people wanted to see, followed by educational initiatives.
"People are becoming more and more used to hearing music outdoors and there is more and more enthusiasm for that," said Mr Campbell.
"Given that the square has had a long history of 238 years, its recent history in the past year is just that – very recent. To some extent we are creating a new chapter in the history of the square."
He said the square has the potential to become an active part of the city like Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London, albeit on a smaller scale.
