Learning outcomes

1 Image of a city

1.1 Why Glasgow?

Glasgow fulfilled our aims and was also an interesting case study having, arguably, been the most successful among British cities in developing/manufacturing a new identity in the ‘post-industrial’ era. Glasgow illustrates:

• (a) power relations, reflected in:

  • constructed images – ‘Glasgow's miles better’ was a deliberate campaign to improve the image of Glasgow.

  • contested images – ‘City of Culture’ – but whose culture?

  • multiple identities – ‘Clydebuilt’, ‘Red Clydeside’, ‘Shock City’, ‘Glasgow's Alive’ are all images of Glasgow.

  • whose interests these dominant images represent and whose are ignored.

• (b) local-global relations – phrases like ‘second city of Empire’ and ‘a great European city’ reflect how Glasgow's (local) uniqueness has been constructed out of wider (global) interdependence.

Figure 1 Glasgow

Figure 1