Scottish Cities

Edinburgh: Inspiring Capital for Whom? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 21st 2019 The world – or rather a very narrow, self-selecting part of it – is preparing to head to Edinburgh for the annual carnival of festivals and the Fringe. These are good times for Edinburgh. It has experienced over two decades of sustained population growth – up from under 450,000 to 513,000, a rise of 14%. Unemployment is at a record low and across the city in sector after sector it feels like a boom town. This is, in the eyes of the official version of the city, a

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Dundee and the Limits of Cultural Regeneration Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 17th 2019 Dundee is the talk of the town. The once forgotten city of Scotland – certainly in the eyes of the Glasgow and Edinburgh chatterati – is now widely celebrated and recognised. It is winning piles of awards and attention, the latest of which being named ‘Sunday Times’ Best Place to Live in Scotland, with Dundee High School-educated Andrew Marr stating that ‘Dundee is certainly a very good idea’. Dundee’s moment in the sun is well-deserved and has been a long time coming. There is an undoubted

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2018 will be the Year of Dundee but whose Dundee will it be? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 20th 2018 2018 will be the Year of Dundee. There is excitement and expectation in the city. After years in the doldrums, Dundee has now been punching above its weight for over a decade. It is not just the anticipation of the V&A’s public opening on September 15^th. The city has been picking up international attention and plaudits as variously ‘Scotland’s coolest city’ (Wall Street Journal), the ‘coolest in Scotland’ and undergoing a ‘renaissance’ (Condé Nast Traveller), ‘Britain’s coolest city’ (GQ magazine),

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