Tourism is an important part of Scotland's economy (The
Electronic Herald, March 6, 1996). Glasgow has been largely
ignored by tourists due to the cities image. When people in
south-east Britain were surveyed, more than 80% associated much
unemployment, slums, economic depression, large public housing
estates, the working class, violence, aggressiveness, drabness
and poverty with Glasgow. Fewer than ten percent associated
Glasgow with images like trees, parks, a growing population, or
potential. When people think of Glasgow, they think of the
Gorbals, violence, soccer and dirt. Meanwhile, ever popular
London is associated with being busy, big and businessed, while
Edinburgh is thought of as The Castle (Pacione, 1995).
Glasgow has been trying to dust off and tidy up its image. In
the 1976, Glasgow's Lord Provost Mr. Michael Kelly started a
program to improve what people thought about his native city.
The "Glasgow's Miles Better" logo was launched with Mr. Happy, a
pun on "Glasgow is Smiles Better." The GEAR project was started
to revitalize Glasgow's East Area (The Economist, 1983). Despite
the British Clean Air Act of 1956, much of Glasgow still had its
charred exterior, which was promptly cleaned up with the
revitalization effort. Regional planners have made efforts to
contain the development of regional ex-urban malls in favor of
new downtown malls, with some success.
Due to its efforts and extensive work in adding new cultural
features to the city, such as the world famous Burrell art
collection a mile or two from the city center (Meisler, 1989) and
the new Tramway theater, Glasgow was elected European City of
Culture for 1990. The festivals, while not exactly bringing
infinite fortune to the city (it cost nearly 32 million pounds),
did increase awareness that Glasgow is more than an industrial
hang-over (Cameron, 1992). Indeed, tourism has been on the rise.
In 1982, there were 700,000 tourists to the city, in 1990 there
were 3,000,000 -- 600,000 of whom could be directly linked to
Glasgow's election as European City of Culture (Paddison, 1995).
Much of the revitalization effort has been focused on the city
center. Since 1981, about 50,000 jobs were created in service
and tourist industries in the downtown area (Lever, 1991). At
the same time, the regional recession and larger trends of
suburbanization have continued to hurt the city, creating an
image-reality gap. As one Glaswegien noted, "I've always said
'Glasgow's Miles Better' only referred to the center of the city.
It was a sick joke for people living in damp houses in
Easterhouse (Paddison, 1995)." By advancing an image with little
historical connection to Glasgow's geography of the past, the
city runs the risk of creating a false reality and more
alienation for those on the economic fringe.
Keeping this in mind, Glasgow should invest effort in
highlighting the cultural aspects of its industrial glory. After
all, the city that gave us Adam Smith must have significant
cultural relevance in the new world order in its own right. One
such effort could be the renewal of the Glasgow Canal, which runs
north of the Clyde to the Firth of Forth (Button and Pearce,
1989).
A much larger opportunity for promotion will be Glasgow's 1999
designation as City of Architecture (Glasgow 1999 -the
unauthorized homepage). Similar to City of Culture, the year
long festival will focus on Glasgow's rich architectural history.
Besides being one of the best preserved Victorian cities in
Europe, Glasgow also boasts the native influence of Charles Rene
Mackintosh, whose buildings dot the city. The festival will also
include a great deal of construction. Throughout the city,
tourists and natives alike will find new exhibits, education
centers, schools, rehabilitated churches and other projects. A
new "Millennium Tower" will be built along a newly redeveloped
quay, in the heart of the old industrial city. Nearby, a
National Science Center for Scotland, an IMAX Theater and cinema
complex, and a new business park will hopefully tie the post-
industrial post-modern Glasgow back to its roots: