Strange

Glasgow 2020 Envisaged By Think-Tank

by liamssoft | June 8, 2007 at 05:12 am

983 views | 5 Recommendations | 2 comments

The Glaswegian view of the future looks pretty grim. After questioning over 5000 residents on what they thought life in 2020 would be like. I hope they are wrong for all our sakes.

TEENAGE mothers are sterilised. Neds on Asbos are named and shamed on the nightly news. Neighbours from hell are evicted, Big Brother-style, by mobile phone vote.

Welcome to Glasgow in 2020. Or at least as some of the city's citizens imagine it. This is Hard Glasgow, one of seven scenarios envisaged by Demos, the think-tank, after spending 18 months speaking to 5000 Glaswegians.

Hard Glasgow isn't all bad. The streets, after all, have never been cleaner. The other six Glasgows envisioned are: the socially divided Two-Speed City; feminine Soft City; eco-friendly Dear Green City; yoga-loving Slow City; socially alienated Lonely City; and ethnically diverse Kaleidescope City.

"None of them are utopias and none of them are dystopias," said Gerry Hassan, who led the Demos project. The report he co-authored was published today. It didn't get a good reception. Even its title, The Dreaming City: Glasgow 2020 and the Power of Mass Imagination, brought snorts of derision from the technocrats in George Square.

Thank you NowPublic members for your brilliant photos.