By Edd McCracken

Next weekend the fifth largest town in Scotland will rise from nothing at a disused airfield in Kinross - only to disappear four days later. Every July it materialises, like the mythical village Brigadoon but with a better soundtrack.

As a musical event, T in the Park (population 85,000) is one of the world's most famous, but as a feat of town planning it goes largely unnoticed.

Beneath the feel-good mayhem of the main arena, which this summer will be graced by the likes of Blur, Kings of Leon and The Killers, lies a fully functioning, temporary town - only Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow will be bigger centres of population in Scotland next weekend.

Like these cities, T in the Park comes complete with its own A&E ward, fire department, police service, TV and radio stations, not to mention telecommunications, running water, sewage, banking, and catering.

Taking 43 days to construct and dismantle, it is the largest logistical operation staged in Scotland on an annual basis.

"It is a pretty massive undertaking," says Craig Suttie, Chief Superintendent of Tayside Police. "When I think of the fifth largest town in Scotland, I think of Inverness or Stirling, with a river and nice suburbs. But this is a vibrant community. It's more akin to the centre of Glasgow, Liverpool or Manchester."

It is the job of event manager Colin Rodger to not only fit the 85,000 revellers, including 65,000 campers with 30,000 tents, plus 4000 crew, and 220 bands into this musical conurbation but also to make it run smoothly.

He has managed the site since T in the Park began in Strathclyde Country Park in 1994, and says that its population has a real civic pride about their temporary town.

"People feel T in the Park belongs to them," he said. "They don't have a lot of tolerance for people who are misbehaving You will always get some people that will step over the mark, but then you'll get someone calming them down. The community spirit diffuses any trouble."

Planning for each festival begins 14 months in advance. Rodger chairs monthly meetings with local officials, police, and ambulance services to construct contingency plans for every kind of occurrence from traffic jams to a plane crash on site or a mass outbreak of food poisoning.

T in the Park encountered the biggest emergency in its 15-year history last year. Mark Morrison, 22, a bank employee from Glasgow, was stabbed 11 times late on the Saturday evening. It was a rare violent attack, but one organisers said they were prepared for.

"We can effectively do on site what a major accident and emergency hospital in Dundee, Perth or Glasgow can do," said Rodger. "We have fully trained doctors and nurses there. We can treat anything. After the stabbing last year the feedback came back to us that one of the reasons why he is recovering well was that the medical facilities were second to none."

Mark Hamilton, head of security and crowd management, added: "We've now introduced community-style policing. That kind of approach is going to work, because there is already a community spirit there. That's why T in the Park is a successful event. The campsite is a great place to hang out. There's a great atmosphere. Everyone looks after each other.'' This year the campsite will be divided into unique sections or "beats", each with their own "hubs" where community stewards - police and normal stewarding staff - will be based.

Twelve CCTV cameras will monitor the campsite, and there will also be a blimp with night vision keeping an eye from the skies.

Some 38,000 metres of fencing delineates this world, creating avenues, districts, boulevards and the line where T in the Park town ends and the real, quieter world begins.

But despite all the organisation, there is one aspect that is always on the verge of anarchy: the 1192 portaloos.

"I'm always saying to people if people looked after and respected the toilets as they would in their own house there would be no problems," Rodger said. "We can't clean them any faster. Our standards are higher than the regulations, we have more of them than any other festival, and yet they get hammered."