6 ms·

Glasgow is trying to make urban living less miserable

83 points by Kaibeezy 7y ago

Kaibeezy 7y ago
For ponds, she says, it might be that the presence of a certain type of newt tells you whether or not the water is healthy. In cities, the newts are children. “If you can see children, it’s probably a healthy and happy city.” Large [presumably US] Cities With the Lowest Share of Families With Children San Francisco 16.5% Seattle 18.7% Washington, D.C. 18.9% New Orleans 20.7% Miami 21.4% Minneapolis 21.8% Philadelphia 22.5% Portland 23.2% Denver 23.3% Cleveland 23.7% https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/01/top-cities-for-families-with-children-data-childfree/580372/ https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/01/top-cities-for-families...
- cafard 7y ago
  Also, I think that for the top three you have to account for the influx of the young, who may have just established a household and not got around to children. That was the case for four households I can think of on my block since 2009.
- wnevets 7y ago
  Kinda misleading data IMO. For example Philadelphia proper is 141.7 mi² and Phoenix proper is 517 mi². A lot of families part of the the Philadelphia area live just outside the city limits.
- RosanaAnaDana 7y ago
  Yeah but its not if you have children, its if you see them. Children are not playing in the streets of Denver or Cleveland.
  - UserIsUnused 7y ago
    Exactly this. But it's harder to get this stat, how would you properly measure it?
    - selimthegrim 7y ago
      Maybe not at nighttime/all hours?
  - selimthegrim 7y ago
    Children play in the streets of New Orleans (the article does blame depopulation) and played in the streets of Cleveland when I was growing up there (cf. Tamir Rice)
- crispyambulance 7y ago
  I can't speak for SF or Seattle, but I suspect a big reason for lack of families with children in many large American cities is that, for the most part, public schools are unacceptable for any family that cares about education. DC, Philly, Baltimore, Cleveland... all the same story. Even in gentrifying and resurgent neighborhoods, parents with the means to do so leave as soon as their kids get to school age or enroll them in extremely expensive private schools. Some might try charter schools or selective magnet schools, but the local neighborhood school in your typical big city is typically a hard "no go".
  - scarmig 7y ago
    SF has a lottery system. With the wrong stroke of luck, your child can be damned to hours of commuting across the city every day, just to go to a crappy school, when a "good" one might be across the street. That's an extreme example, and in the worst case scenario there are plenty of good private schools to send your children. But choosing to live in SF comes with such a set of pros and cons that many parents of school-age children who have a choice choose to live outside of it.
    - ska 7y ago
      Is a lottery system really worse overall than just letting people buy their way into desired school district? That model obviously hasn't been working well either.
      - wil421 7y ago
        You can have proper zoning and not have to make it buy in only. Before I moved to the suburbs the city I lived in created “Workforce” zoning to combat gentrification.[1] What’s really hard to stop are the doctors and lawyers who just send their kids to private schools and vote against everything. [1] https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/brookhaven-zoning-overhaul-includes-affordable-housing-incentives/DIEN2Y7TxS40UXACqaHMxL/ https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/brookhaven-zon...
      - scarmig 7y ago
- throwawaysea 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing. I think these metrics explain a lot of the differences of opinion on zoning laws/density, management/tolerance of crime, transportation modes, etc.
- LargeWu 7y ago
  Anecdotally as a resident of Minneapolis, I'm not sure what its inclusion on this list is supposed to signify. I think it's a great town to raise a family. We recently chose to build a new house just a few blocks from our current one, instead of move to the suburbs; our children are thriving in their public neighborhood school. There's tons of parks and green space nearby where we often run into neighborhood kids. One possible explanation I guess is that the city is doing well economically, but is not as overpriced as some of the others on this list. It's still attractive for both young professionals without kids to buy houses, as well as older adults without kids to remain in their houses after their kids have grown.
peterbraden 7y ago
> Anna recalls the change. “When we were in the tenements, you’d shout up to the window: ‘Mammy, I want a piece of jam!’ Before you knew it there was a dozen of them being thrown out of the window.” In the tower block, she did not let her own children play unsupervised. Neighbours only spoke if they took the same lift. Her daughter was threatened with a bread knife. Interesting that this anecdote is the same theme as the children's song we learned at school "You cannae through pieces oot a twenty story flat"
arethuza 7y ago
Glasgow may be in the words of Frankie Boyle "like Blade Runner without the special effects" but it is worth noting that it is definitely one of the friendliest cities, whereas here in Edinburgh we might have one of the most beautiful cities in the world but the inhabitants tend to be comparatively grim of mood.
- jermaustin1 7y ago
  And a large Glasgow City Centre apartment about half of the price of a similar apartment in Edinburgh. Making urbanization a lot more affordable. That said, moving 30 minutes out of Glasgow (Kilmarnock), you can get a similar end unit apartment for a third of the cost in Glasgow walking distance to a direct line to Glasgow. And here I am in the States driving 50 miles a day and paying triple for my house what a nice City Centre flat costs in Edinburgh.
  - arethuza 7y ago
    ~30 mins by train from Edinburgh Haymarket gets you across to Fife - which is where we moved from central Edinburgh ~3 years ago.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- stevekemp 7y ago
  Edinburgh folk aren't that bad, unless it is festival time. Though I admit getting drunk in Glasgow usually leads to more random encounters and general chitchat than Edinburgh, unless you're lucky enough to be in Leith!
- bryanmgreen 7y ago
  Glasgow has the friendliest folk! I was just visiting and some delightful older Glaswegian ladies were seating next to me at dinner and noticed I was eating alone. Next thing I know, I (nearly 30 years old) am accepting their (mid-late 50s) invite to go to speakeasy they had reservations for. Glaswegians are no joke. Such a fun night. People make the place.
mothsonasloth 7y ago
Glaswegian here. I would love to support the merry picture this article is painting but most of the examples are happy accidents. The diet aspect is cultural and will be around for many generations. You can try and "chip" away at it by education and social mobility but it will still be around. In fact I could murder a fish and chip supper right now. In terms of open spaces and such, Glasgow council is selling land like its going out of fashion to developers. The joke being "oh theres more student accomodation being built". Plus the city's infrastructure is under strain as Glasgow approaches the 1 million mark. The weather will always be crap.
- baybal2 7y ago
  > Plus the city's infrastructure is under strain as Glasgow approaches the 1 million mark. Why are you concerned with that?
  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    Why are they worried about something being under strain? Because it won’t work as well and is more likely to break. Why wouldn’t you be concerned about that?
    - baybal2 7y ago
      I don't think there will be much strain
      - chrisseaton 7y ago
        Ok? But they do, so that’s why they’re concerned.
        randomsearch 7y ago
        There won’t be much strain as Glasgow’s population used to be much larger, and many commuter trains are practically empty compared to places like London. The city also has lots of central accommodation compared to places like London, and the traffic is nowhere near as bad. Maybe a bit of lifestyle change as people vary commute hours, and less driving as the motorway is apparently very bad at peak hours. Source: used to live and work in Glasgow, have friends in council planning, have been back there and taken commuter trains over the last few years.
tonyedgecombe 7y ago
The weather will always be crap. Climate change will solve that problem.
- arethuza 7y ago
  I believe Scotland is forecast to have warmer even wetter winters - although summers should be drier.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Prevailing Westerlies should ensure a good deal of water is always being dumped on the West. Kent weather is not in our future.
- buckminster 7y ago
  Unless climate change kills the gulf stream...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't do that here. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21272073 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21272073 and marked it off-topic.
baybal2 7y ago
I think UK did not get highrise development right. Building residential highrises far away from workplaces,social facilities, and no good transit pretty much defeats the purpose of building highrises. In other words, UK cities with "depressive" highrise communities unknowingly copied Moscow suburbs.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- smcl 7y ago
  You're right that the UK government bungled the high-rise housing in the 60s and 70s (as documented by Adam Curtis in "The Great British Housing Disaster" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4). But I'd like to explore the UK/Moscow comparison though. I don't have first-hand experience with Moscow but I am familiar with the Czech Republic where paneláky house a sizeable chunk of the population. Many of my friends live in them and they're generally quite pleasant, well served by transport and amenities (shops, bars, things like hairdressers and such). What I'm getting at is that this - in the "west" there is a lot of misunderstanding about life in Warsaw Pact countries. From my Czech experience it would not surprise me in the least if much of the Moscow mass-housing you're referring to was planned and constructed better than similar developments in UK. So I think the comparison between (say) Red Road flats in Glasgow or the Banana Flats in Leith and Moscow's suburbs might be unfair to Moscow.
  - baybal2 7y ago
    I'd say Moscow improved since Soviet times. The issue with Moscow suburbs were that they were made to house a lot of lower end Soviet proletarians, densely, cheaply, and most importantly away from Soviet elites. They had no or bare minimum in terms of living infrastructure like shops, schools, daycare and people had to travel to Moscow for everything. The only connection they had to the city centre were busses, and trains whose routes and schedules were very peculiarly planned, again to frustrate residents from faring to city centre too often. Those bedroom communities were only linked to the metro like a decade or so ago.
stfwn 7y ago
If anyone is interested in this type of thing I would recommend reading ‘Seeing Like a State’ by James C. Scott. It is one of those books that makes a point so definitively that many articles on the topic could just be appended as examples. From Wikipedia: > The book catalogues schemes which states impose upon populaces that are convenient for the state since they make societies "legible", but are not necessarily good for the people. For example, census data, standardized weights and measures, and uniform languages make it easier to tax and control the population.
- perfunctory 7y ago
  What's wrong with "standardized weights and measures"?
  - pavel_lishin 7y ago
    And with taking a census for that matter?
  - savanaly 7y ago
    If you don't feel like reading the actual book, this book review [0] does an excellent job of summarizing. [0] https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-like-a-state/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-lik...
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780747411/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780747411/ ) makes the case that standardized weights and measures do indeed make things easier for the state, but that in this case the state is on the side of the peasants against the nobility who would like to enserf them. History supports this view in some obvious ways -- European peasant revolutions included demands for standardized weights and measures as a counter to abuse of nonstandard measures by local lords.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  I'm not sure how decreased dereliction, increased greenspaces, and strengthening the local community are tools of government control. It kind of feels like the same goals an anarchist commune would have.
OliverJones 7y ago
Chicago, USA, had similar urban "renewal" woes, resulting in the construction of high-rise housing projects (called housing estates in Scotland). The Robert Taylor Homes were a particularly egregious example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes They were demolished in the early 21st century. But, unfortunately, Chicago remains a city where it's a vast dangerous struggle to live in poverty. 'twould be interesting to compare Glasgow's sectarianism with Chicago's racism, to see whether ways of mitigating one could mitigate the other.
Glawen 7y ago
I lived 5 years in Glasgow to get my engineering diploma, coming from a quiet village from the french countryside. It was a shock when I arrived there, barely speaking english, having never lived in a city before, but my god I loved this city so much. Weather is depressing as hell, violence is common, the food is the worst I ever tasted and there is still this silly war between catholic and protestant. But glaswegians are so friendly, and the city is so mad that I felt so alive there. Living there was surreal every time of the day, from the morning hangover, the awful food to the mad parties at night. Having said that, I never saw myself raising a family there, Glasgow is just too much of everything.
randomsearch 7y ago
Used to live in Glasgow and it is my favourite city. I left for a job elsewhere. The weather and the dark winters are the real issue. Association with violence is outdated - it’s much safer than London, for example. Association with drinking alcohol entirely accurate. If you like that, Glasgow is a great place to party. It also contributes to a very communal feel around the pubs there. And it brings the downsides you’d expect - increased levels of alcoholism and domestic violence. The Protestant catholic thing is a regular source of annoyance when the orange marches are on, but you can otherwise ignore it. Some momentum against the marching is developing now, hopefully the council will act. Now the positives: long beautiful summer evenings, relatively warm winters, incredible arts and music scenes, best pubs and bars in the UK, beautiful parks, stunning architecture (really, really stunning), beautiful tenements you can afford to live in on an average wage like you’re in some kind of Parisian movie, great museums, Loch Lomond about 30 min drive away and lots of other beautiful countryside nearby, great staging post for the highlands. Incredible urban landscape to explore. Two great universities. Very vegan friendly - a bunch of the major venues for music and general hipster things are vegan. But the biggest plus is the people - the most kind, warm, friendly people you’ll meet in the UK. People shouting out of their windows to invite me in for a drink. Starting conversations with me as I walk down the street. Drinking whisky with strangers you’ve just met at the bar. Community organisations (like the Children’s Wood mentioned in the article) spring up everywhere. This innate sense of fairness. It’s so hard to describe, but go visit and you might be lucky enough to understand why “people make glasgow” is both a council marketing slogan and also perfectly true.
adrianasoto 7y ago
Hi guys. We develop a new way to elevate the wellbeing in cities, you want to try it? Download it our app In Iphone: http://bit.ly/Mind_plus http://bit.ly/Mind_plus and in google play: http://bit.ly/app_MindPlus http://bit.ly/app_MindPlus

83 points by Kaibeezy 7y ago

For ponds, she says, it might be that the presence of a certain type of newt tells you whether or not the water is healthy. In cities, the newts are children. “If you can see children, it’s probably a healthy and happy city.” Large [presumably US] Cities With the Lowest Share of Families With Children San Francisco 16.5% Seattle 18.7% Washington, D.C. 18.9% New Orleans 20.7% Miami 21.4% Minneapolis 21.8% Philadelphia 22.5% Portland 23.2% Denver 23.3% Cleveland 23.7% https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/01/top-cities-for-families-with-children-data-childfree/580372/ https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/01/top-cities-for-families...

cafard 7y ago
Also, I think that for the top three you have to account for the influx of the young, who may have just established a household and not got around to children. That was the case for four households I can think of on my block since 2009.
wnevets 7y ago
Kinda misleading data IMO. For example Philadelphia proper is 141.7 mi² and Phoenix proper is 517 mi². A lot of families part of the the Philadelphia area live just outside the city limits.
RosanaAnaDana 7y ago
Yeah but its not if you have children, its if you see them. Children are not playing in the streets of Denver or Cleveland.
- UserIsUnused 7y ago
  Exactly this. But it's harder to get this stat, how would you properly measure it?
  - selimthegrim 7y ago
    Maybe not at nighttime/all hours?
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  Children play in the streets of New Orleans (the article does blame depopulation) and played in the streets of Cleveland when I was growing up there (cf. Tamir Rice)
crispyambulance 7y ago
I can't speak for SF or Seattle, but I suspect a big reason for lack of families with children in many large American cities is that, for the most part, public schools are unacceptable for any family that cares about education. DC, Philly, Baltimore, Cleveland... all the same story. Even in gentrifying and resurgent neighborhoods, parents with the means to do so leave as soon as their kids get to school age or enroll them in extremely expensive private schools. Some might try charter schools or selective magnet schools, but the local neighborhood school in your typical big city is typically a hard "no go".
- scarmig 7y ago
  SF has a lottery system. With the wrong stroke of luck, your child can be damned to hours of commuting across the city every day, just to go to a crappy school, when a "good" one might be across the street. That's an extreme example, and in the worst case scenario there are plenty of good private schools to send your children. But choosing to live in SF comes with such a set of pros and cons that many parents of school-age children who have a choice choose to live outside of it.
  - ska 7y ago
    Is a lottery system really worse overall than just letting people buy their way into desired school district? That model obviously hasn't been working well either.
    - wil421 7y ago
      You can have proper zoning and not have to make it buy in only. Before I moved to the suburbs the city I lived in created “Workforce” zoning to combat gentrification.[1] What’s really hard to stop are the doctors and lawyers who just send their kids to private schools and vote against everything. [1] https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/brookhaven-zoning-overhaul-includes-affordable-housing-incentives/DIEN2Y7TxS40UXACqaHMxL/ https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/brookhaven-zon...
    - scarmig 7y ago
throwawaysea 7y ago
Thanks for sharing. I think these metrics explain a lot of the differences of opinion on zoning laws/density, management/tolerance of crime, transportation modes, etc.
LargeWu 7y ago
Anecdotally as a resident of Minneapolis, I'm not sure what its inclusion on this list is supposed to signify. I think it's a great town to raise a family. We recently chose to build a new house just a few blocks from our current one, instead of move to the suburbs; our children are thriving in their public neighborhood school. There's tons of parks and green space nearby where we often run into neighborhood kids. One possible explanation I guess is that the city is doing well economically, but is not as overpriced as some of the others on this list. It's still attractive for both young professionals without kids to buy houses, as well as older adults without kids to remain in their houses after their kids have grown.

peterbraden 7y ago

> Anna recalls the change. “When we were in the tenements, you’d shout up to the window: ‘Mammy, I want a piece of jam!’ Before you knew it there was a dozen of them being thrown out of the window.” In the tower block, she did not let her own children play unsupervised. Neighbours only spoke if they took the same lift. Her daughter was threatened with a bread knife. Interesting that this anecdote is the same theme as the children's song we learned at school "You cannae through pieces oot a twenty story flat"

arethuza 7y ago

Glasgow may be in the words of Frankie Boyle "like Blade Runner without the special effects" but it is worth noting that it is definitely one of the friendliest cities, whereas here in Edinburgh we might have one of the most beautiful cities in the world but the inhabitants tend to be comparatively grim of mood.

jermaustin1 7y ago
And a large Glasgow City Centre apartment about half of the price of a similar apartment in Edinburgh. Making urbanization a lot more affordable. That said, moving 30 minutes out of Glasgow (Kilmarnock), you can get a similar end unit apartment for a third of the cost in Glasgow walking distance to a direct line to Glasgow. And here I am in the States driving 50 miles a day and paying triple for my house what a nice City Centre flat costs in Edinburgh.
- arethuza 7y ago
  ~30 mins by train from Edinburgh Haymarket gets you across to Fife - which is where we moved from central Edinburgh ~3 years ago.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
stevekemp 7y ago
Edinburgh folk aren't that bad, unless it is festival time. Though I admit getting drunk in Glasgow usually leads to more random encounters and general chitchat than Edinburgh, unless you're lucky enough to be in Leith!
bryanmgreen 7y ago
Glasgow has the friendliest folk! I was just visiting and some delightful older Glaswegian ladies were seating next to me at dinner and noticed I was eating alone. Next thing I know, I (nearly 30 years old) am accepting their (mid-late 50s) invite to go to speakeasy they had reservations for. Glaswegians are no joke. Such a fun night. People make the place.

mothsonasloth 7y ago

Glaswegian here. I would love to support the merry picture this article is painting but most of the examples are happy accidents. The diet aspect is cultural and will be around for many generations. You can try and "chip" away at it by education and social mobility but it will still be around. In fact I could murder a fish and chip supper right now. In terms of open spaces and such, Glasgow council is selling land like its going out of fashion to developers. The joke being "oh theres more student accomodation being built". Plus the city's infrastructure is under strain as Glasgow approaches the 1 million mark. The weather will always be crap.

baybal2 7y ago
> Plus the city's infrastructure is under strain as Glasgow approaches the 1 million mark. Why are you concerned with that?
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  Why are they worried about something being under strain? Because it won’t work as well and is more likely to break. Why wouldn’t you be concerned about that?
  - baybal2 7y ago
    I don't think there will be much strain
    - chrisseaton 7y ago
      Ok? But they do, so that’s why they’re concerned.
      - randomsearch 7y ago
        There won’t be much strain as Glasgow’s population used to be much larger, and many commuter trains are practically empty compared to places like London. The city also has lots of central accommodation compared to places like London, and the traffic is nowhere near as bad. Maybe a bit of lifestyle change as people vary commute hours, and less driving as the motorway is apparently very bad at peak hours. Source: used to live and work in Glasgow, have friends in council planning, have been back there and taken commuter trains over the last few years.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago

The weather will always be crap. Climate change will solve that problem.

arethuza 7y ago
I believe Scotland is forecast to have warmer even wetter winters - although summers should be drier.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Prevailing Westerlies should ensure a good deal of water is always being dumped on the West. Kent weather is not in our future.
buckminster 7y ago
Unless climate change kills the gulf stream...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dang 7y ago
Please don't do that here. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21272073 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21272073 and marked it off-topic.

baybal2 7y ago

I think UK did not get highrise development right. Building residential highrises far away from workplaces,social facilities, and no good transit pretty much defeats the purpose of building highrises. In other words, UK cities with "depressive" highrise communities unknowingly copied Moscow suburbs.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
smcl 7y ago
You're right that the UK government bungled the high-rise housing in the 60s and 70s (as documented by Adam Curtis in "The Great British Housing Disaster" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4). But I'd like to explore the UK/Moscow comparison though. I don't have first-hand experience with Moscow but I am familiar with the Czech Republic where paneláky house a sizeable chunk of the population. Many of my friends live in them and they're generally quite pleasant, well served by transport and amenities (shops, bars, things like hairdressers and such). What I'm getting at is that this - in the "west" there is a lot of misunderstanding about life in Warsaw Pact countries. From my Czech experience it would not surprise me in the least if much of the Moscow mass-housing you're referring to was planned and constructed better than similar developments in UK. So I think the comparison between (say) Red Road flats in Glasgow or the Banana Flats in Leith and Moscow's suburbs might be unfair to Moscow.
- baybal2 7y ago
  I'd say Moscow improved since Soviet times. The issue with Moscow suburbs were that they were made to house a lot of lower end Soviet proletarians, densely, cheaply, and most importantly away from Soviet elites. They had no or bare minimum in terms of living infrastructure like shops, schools, daycare and people had to travel to Moscow for everything. The only connection they had to the city centre were busses, and trains whose routes and schedules were very peculiarly planned, again to frustrate residents from faring to city centre too often. Those bedroom communities were only linked to the metro like a decade or so ago.

stfwn 7y ago

If anyone is interested in this type of thing I would recommend reading ‘Seeing Like a State’ by James C. Scott. It is one of those books that makes a point so definitively that many articles on the topic could just be appended as examples. From Wikipedia: > The book catalogues schemes which states impose upon populaces that are convenient for the state since they make societies "legible", but are not necessarily good for the people. For example, census data, standardized weights and measures, and uniform languages make it easier to tax and control the population.

perfunctory 7y ago
What's wrong with "standardized weights and measures"?
- pavel_lishin 7y ago
  And with taking a census for that matter?
- savanaly 7y ago
  If you don't feel like reading the actual book, this book review [0] does an excellent job of summarizing. [0] https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-like-a-state/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-lik...
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780747411/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780747411/ ) makes the case that standardized weights and measures do indeed make things easier for the state, but that in this case the state is on the side of the peasants against the nobility who would like to enserf them. History supports this view in some obvious ways -- European peasant revolutions included demands for standardized weights and measures as a counter to abuse of nonstandard measures by local lords.
SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
I'm not sure how decreased dereliction, increased greenspaces, and strengthening the local community are tools of government control. It kind of feels like the same goals an anarchist commune would have.

OliverJones 7y ago

Chicago, USA, had similar urban "renewal" woes, resulting in the construction of high-rise housing projects (called housing estates in Scotland). The Robert Taylor Homes were a particularly egregious example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes They were demolished in the early 21st century. But, unfortunately, Chicago remains a city where it's a vast dangerous struggle to live in poverty. 'twould be interesting to compare Glasgow's sectarianism with Chicago's racism, to see whether ways of mitigating one could mitigate the other.

Glawen 7y ago

I lived 5 years in Glasgow to get my engineering diploma, coming from a quiet village from the french countryside. It was a shock when I arrived there, barely speaking english, having never lived in a city before, but my god I loved this city so much. Weather is depressing as hell, violence is common, the food is the worst I ever tasted and there is still this silly war between catholic and protestant. But glaswegians are so friendly, and the city is so mad that I felt so alive there. Living there was surreal every time of the day, from the morning hangover, the awful food to the mad parties at night. Having said that, I never saw myself raising a family there, Glasgow is just too much of everything.

randomsearch 7y ago

Used to live in Glasgow and it is my favourite city. I left for a job elsewhere. The weather and the dark winters are the real issue. Association with violence is outdated - it’s much safer than London, for example. Association with drinking alcohol entirely accurate. If you like that, Glasgow is a great place to party. It also contributes to a very communal feel around the pubs there. And it brings the downsides you’d expect - increased levels of alcoholism and domestic violence. The Protestant catholic thing is a regular source of annoyance when the orange marches are on, but you can otherwise ignore it. Some momentum against the marching is developing now, hopefully the council will act. Now the positives: long beautiful summer evenings, relatively warm winters, incredible arts and music scenes, best pubs and bars in the UK, beautiful parks, stunning architecture (really, really stunning), beautiful tenements you can afford to live in on an average wage like you’re in some kind of Parisian movie, great museums, Loch Lomond about 30 min drive away and lots of other beautiful countryside nearby, great staging post for the highlands. Incredible urban landscape to explore. Two great universities. Very vegan friendly - a bunch of the major venues for music and general hipster things are vegan. But the biggest plus is the people - the most kind, warm, friendly people you’ll meet in the UK. People shouting out of their windows to invite me in for a drink. Starting conversations with me as I walk down the street. Drinking whisky with strangers you’ve just met at the bar. Community organisations (like the Children’s Wood mentioned in the article) spring up everywhere. This innate sense of fairness. It’s so hard to describe, but go visit and you might be lucky enough to understand why “people make glasgow” is both a council marketing slogan and also perfectly true.

adrianasoto 7y ago

Hi guys. We develop a new way to elevate the wellbeing in cities, you want to try it? Download it our app In Iphone: http://bit.ly/Mind_plus http://bit.ly/Mind_plus and in google play: http://bit.ly/app_MindPlus http://bit.ly/app_MindPlus