University of Glasgow in West End, Picture taken by Jorn Koelemaij
Segregation, spatial inequality, and social polarisation are not necessarily phenomena that are common in cities with an industrial past. It is often the case, however, that areas with high concentrations of former industrial working-class citizens struggle to adjust to the contemporary knowledge-intensive and service-based urban economies. While, in some cities segregation might not be always easy to discover for the average visitor, in Glasgow, the contradictions appear to be quite obvious.
Glasgow, the largest city of Scotland at 600,000, is historically working class with an evident industrial heritage, which attempts to improve its current reputation by investing in cultural events and modernizing its urban economy in order to increase its competitiveness. To some extent, it seems to succeed. The fact that the city attracts people nowadays is proven by the fact that Glasgow currently counts as the third-most attractive major British tourist destination and that the city is often being mentioned as the best shopping centre in Britain north of London. At first sight, visitors that particularly come to shop may get the impression that they ended up in quite a vibrant and thriving urban centre, despite the fact that some of the historical buildings could still use a revamp. In any case the tourists extend their movement towards the West End of Glasgow, this idea will be mainly confirmed. The West End is an area dominated by students, with many cosy pubs, hip coffee bars, and specialty boutique shops. Moreover, one will find a well-maintained park and Botanical Garden, while being surrounded by monumental Victorian sandstone buildings. Last, but not least, the characteristic historical buildings of the University of Glasgow and The Kelvingrove Art Gallery are an aesthetic feast for the eyes.
In case they choose to discover the other side of the city centre though, they will get a different idea of the city’s current well-being. Already during the industrial era, Glasgow has been quite segregated: where the West End counted as the bohemian and mainly affluent side of the city, the East End was the industrial and thus mainly working class area. Nowadays, instead of viewing paintings of Monet, Van Gogh, or Rembrandt, one can visit the People’s Palace here, which gives the visitor an overview of the social history and the living conditions of less-affluent citizens in East Glasgow.
One of the other primary attractions within this area is the renowned Barras Market. At this market, people of modest means with a penchant for a good bargain are buying everything you can imagine, ranging from old bikes to DVDs, from general clothing to forage caps, which could be useful for a variety of purposes. Located directly behind the Barras lies Calton, which is generally regarded as one of the most deprived and dangerous places in Glasgow. This is illustrated by the area’s extremely low life expectancy: in 2006, the life expectancy for males in Calton was only 53,9. This is lower than war-torn or undernourished states of the Middle East or Sub-Saharan Africa. Even more striking is that this number is also a lot lower than comparable deprived neighbourhoods in Manchester or Liverpool, as noted recently by The Economist. There are many possible explanations, although researchers apparently are still unable to agree on the primary reason that is able to explain this extreme number.
Beyond shockingly low life expectancy, Calton also has a reputation to be a dangerous place due to links to the infamous Calton Tongs gang. During the 1960s, the area was known as Tongland, and today the area’s new generation seems, according to some recent graffiti pieces in the neighbourhood, to try to continue, maintain, and even glorify this dubious identity.
In sum, Glasgow’s West End clearly seems to maintain its attractiveness among the successful new urban generation that benefits from and enjoys the so-called current cultural-cognitive city. The question is whether Glasgow’s East End, in general, and the area of Calton in particular, will continue to be known as a place of concentration of the less well-off in the near and long-term future. One of the advantages of Calton is, at the very least, that its location could be regarded as being potentially quite attractive. Although clear patterns of gentrification are not yet very visible in Glasgow, the Merchant City, located at the eastern edge of the city centre, has recently become increasingly attractive by a young and affluent crowd. At the same time, the adjacent area, Dennistoun, located just north of Calton, slowly but surely tends to become more popular amongst middle and higher incomes.
Also within Calton itself, some things have changed during the last couple of years: welfare and advisory projects and other volunteer initiatives try to help those most vulnerable that are being hurt by persistent poverty, while urban renewal aims to improve the reputation of the area by trying to increase the social diversity of its citizens. Opinions are divided about the current state of the neighbourhood and whether or not it has really improved indeed. In 2014, the city of Glasgow is hosting the Commonwealth Games, which will be situated mainly in the city’s East End. Perhaps this event could contribute to a general improvement of the larger area’s reputation? Anyway, it goes without doubt that, for urban scholars with an interest in topics as segregation, spatial inequality, social exclusion or concentrations of poverty, Glasgow is a very remarkable and interesting place to research!
All photographs by Jorn Koelemaij and Anouk Tersteeg.
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