Glasgow, city of culture

 In 1990, Glasgow was the European city of culture.
 This was the culmination of a reinvention of Glasgows image. In the postwar period, Glasgow had suffered terribly from the effects of the loss of Empire. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Glasgow was popularly associated with violence and poverty, razor gangs, and drunkenness. Although Glasgow had always suffered from this image problem, it had been balanced by the sheer energy of the city that had at varying times made it the second city of the empire.
 Glasgow went through a malaise, where it lost its way and stopped being the wealthy, vibrant city it had been in the Victorian era. We were left with the ghost of better times, buildings funded by the tobacco lords and spice lords who had made their fortunes in the empire, some of the most famous scientists and engineers and politicians looking down from their plinths in George Square. This damage was building on itself; tourism was obviously low, and business was down as well. Glasgow needed to do something to get out of this terminal decline.

Gallery of modern art

 Starting from the early 80s, Glasgow city council went on a PR offensive. They ran a campaign, Glasgow's Miles Better, that was quite popular, to try and introduce some positive connotations with the city in peoples heads. Mr Happy from the mr men books was used as the cartoon character, and the ads painted Glasgow as a cultural centre that was also friendly to business.
 They dusted down Glasgows long-standing policy of making high culture freely available to everyone, and successfully worked a series of ambitious projects. The Burell collection, which had been lying dormant for decades, had a palace built for it and was opened in 1983. The SECC (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre) was built in 1985; it looks like a cheap rip-off of the Sydney Opera House, and maybe it was, but having a generalised venue for culture and conferences and science exhibitions was good for business and for the local and international organisations to have somewhere safe and reliable they could use.

Burell collection

The big thing at the time was the Glasgow Garden festival 1988. This was a copy of two earlier ones in Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent, which had been very successful. It was really a way to jolly people into not feeling embarassed or defensive about their city, that with some energy we could do the high-cultured stuff. In Thatchers Britain, although Thatcher was despised in Glasgow, it was good to say to the world that Glasgow was a place that could make money through business.
 At the same time, widespread attempts were being made to try and change the culture of violence, sectarianism and alcoholism that Glasgow had become notorious for. Projects to stamp them out, enforce laws, and to make them socially unacceptable were started in this time.
 All this paid off, as in 1990 Glasgow became the European city of culture, the same year that the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall was opened). By 1990, the big works had largely been done, but this synergistic approach had changed something. Of course, Glasgow did and still does have many problems. But the culture of Glasgow and the west of Scotland had changed for the better, the worst excesses of a decade ago were now not only unacceptable but could be changed.
 Glasgow in this period was an experiment, an attempt to use culture as a means of urban regeneration. It was a success, so it's been copied around the world.

George square statues

I've walked past the statues in George square hundreds of times, and I was vaguely aware of a couple of the historical characters they're based on, but to be honest I didn't really give them much thought - they were just background to wherever I was going (possibly a pub). However, apart from the Cenotaph, the Robert Burns and James Watt Statues, I didn't really know the rest, so it was a bit of a surprise to find out that they read a bit like history's who's whom:

Sir Walter Scott
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Sir Robert Peel
William Gladstone
Thomas Graham (Chemist at Glasgow uni)
Thomas Campbell (poet)
Field Marshall Lord Clyde (Soldier, obviously)
Sir John Moore
James Oswald (MP from 1832)

I know that most British cities have these tableau of famous historical people, but I do find them fascinating; these are records of what the people of a city found important at one time. They wanted the present and the future to know that they respected these people, it wasn't so much the image of the person being celebrated, it was also the image (usually Victorians) wanted to present of what the implied values were of celebrating such people, because these things cost money and valuable space so political consensus would be needed. The statues are a combination of politics, fighting, poetry, and science. Just like the Victorian era, really.