Neglect of a city and it's population
Strategies of gentrification.
You can tell a lot about the governance of a city by its custodians approach to upkeep and decline of the physical environment, this often can give an insight to how they care, or not, about their citizen's. This is Glasgow!
I am currently researching for a project in Woodside and last night considered the various city strategies by @glasgowcitycouncil I was not impressed with the lack of voice and visibility of the people of Glasgow in the strategies, in fact there is a distinct lack of consideration of strength within communities and people, with wording around communities being "tantalising clues for the future" and "lacking central heart". Not to mention the target to double the city population without mention of the additional pressure on existing public services. But of course if you plan to fill a city with wealthy people and businesses to exploit the low cost of living balanced with reasonably high income then you diminish the demand on public services, it's called gentrification, or social/economic cleansing. Public services are creaking under the pressure of social issues in Glasgow, the reinvention of the city centre will achieve little in addressing the difficulties faced by the people of Glasgow facing health and economic disparities amongst the worst in the world. The National Office of Statistics report Scotland still has a lower life expectancy than those in England and Wales, even lower for those living in areas of deprivation, of which Scotland. They reported in 2022 “Scotland has the lowest life expectancy of all western European countries.” Areas of deprivation (SIMD) shows the visual extent of the inequalities in the wider city but also to when considered alongside the Glasgow City strategies you can see the targeted areas are in their crosshairs, are the areas which the micro aggressive language is being used as if those communities are no longer worthy and should move aside for students and modern living that fits with the Little Holland ideology of the day which can only be attained with particular level of income.
All this from an urban politic standpoint, it is recognised that they really don't have the power to tackle the central issue of poor national policy. "Structuralists see city governments as unable to control national and international capitalist forces. For them, urban politics is largely irrelevant" (P. Eisinger, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001).
This project is likely to grow, with my initial focus on Woodside/North Woodsid but this area is so connected to the city it has become clear that the strategies of Glasgow City Council are inclusive of this area and therefore will need to be considered.