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I’m all for having a vision to provide a shared goal but I do think that visionary is often confused with big or dramatic change (like rebuilding an area or closing roads). I think small scale developments can be life-changing but they’re not as exciting because there’s a lack of visible output. For example, local decision-making about neighbourhoods is a slog and largely invisible work but could be very empowering, or insulating homes and retrofitting them for carbon neutrality is, again, a complex, massive but tedious task that would make a difference to people’s lives and climate change. Mildly boring visions are what’s needed!

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Agreed. There was a lot of questions from the audience at the hustings about the state of tenements and the need for eco retrofitting, but I am not sure if anyone had a sense of the scale of the changes.

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Really enjoyed reading this …. Glasgow is a fantastic city …. motorway free would be wonderful.

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Nice piece Neil!

Grand visions look nice on paper, but personally I love cities that have grown up in an

higgledy-piggledy way and the excitement of walking a city not knowing what is around the corner as you shift between architectural styles. Particularly love places that have kept parts of their medieval footprint and have grown organically!

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Thanks Neil. I totally agree, give me higgledy-piggledy any day.

One weird crossover is the Renaissance Star Forts. I've never been, but they seem to be planned and dense at the same time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmanova

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Extraordinary design, a kind of orderly version of Berwick upon Tweeds ramparts. I’m sure you would get lost in all those labyrinthine circles

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