It is surely a sign of the changing times that a city that once thrived on carbon-intensive manufacturing and mining and in the process became the powerhouse of Scotland’s economy and the “Second City of the British Empire”, is currently hosting a climate summit aimed at decarbonising the world. The 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Convention, co-hosted by the UK and Italy, and more commonly referred to as COP26, is being held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021.
Much hinges on the outcomes of COP26, which has attracted 25,000 accredited delegates from around two hundred countries, accompanied by a media circus and groups of campaigners concerned about climate change, including Total Extinction Rebellion and the Pilgrims Procession. The attendees include Prime Ministers and Presidents, ministers, the UN Secretary General, members of the British royal family, scientists, economists, diplomats, lawyers, environmentalists, and climate activists, all with different carbon footprints. The political leaders of the US, Australia, Canada, France, and India are among those attending, while the Presidents of Brazil, China and Russia will be conspicuous by their absence.
COP26 will take place at the SEC Centre, one of three main venues within the Scottish Event Campus along with the SEC Armadillo and the SSE Hydro. The SEC Centre, described as Scotland’s premier national venue for public events, conferences, pop concerts, and trade exhibitions, comprises five interlinked halls, occupying an area of 19,000 square metres. The Scottish Event Campus occupies the former site of the Queen’s Dock in the district of Finnieston, which operated until 1969 on the north bank of the River Clyde, about a mile west of the city centre. It opened as the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in 1985 and acquired its present name in 2017. Across Bell’s Bridge, on the south bank of the Clyde, is to be found the Glasgow Science Centre. This is the site of the COP26 Green Zone, a venue open to the public and featuring four event spaces, “immersive exhibitions” from eleven Principal Partners, pop-up exhibitions by grassroots organisations, and an outdoor exhibition of zero-emission vehicles.
As the conference gets underway, it is an opportune moment to take a closer look at Glasgow, whose history is one of changing fortunes with rapid industrialisation during the 18th and 19th centuries, followed by creeping de-industrialisation in the 20th century, and its eventual rebirth as the cultural capital of Scotland. Scotland’s largest city and the fourth most populous city in the UK, lies in the lower valley of the River Clyde, which bisects the city from east to west, in south-western Scotland. Its name is derived from a Brythonic Celtic word meaning “green glen”. Having started out as an ecclesiastical settlement, founded by Saint Mungo (patron saint of Glasgow) in the sixth century AD, Glasgow was transformed from the 17th century onwards into a mercantile town by trans-Atlantic trade, importing sugar, tobacco, and rum from the New World as part of the slave trade. After the tobacco trade was ended by the American Revolution, cotton and linen manufacture and export and chemical manufacturing took over.
The manufacture of textiles in factories and weaving villages created a need for workers, with vacancies being filled by immigrants from the Scottish Highlands and Ireland. The arrival of Irish Protestants, who had religious and cultural affinities with the Lowland Scots, alongside Catholics who did not, sowed the seeds of simmering sectarian tensions, seen even today at times of matches between Celtic (Catholic) and Rangers (Protestant) football clubs. At the same time, a socioeconomic divide between the wealthier occupants of the West End of Glasgow and the less fortunate residents of its East End declared itself, in a manifestation of the less desirable aspects of capitalism. Notorious Eastern slum tenements such as the Gorbals gained a bad reputation that travelled far beyond the confines of the city. Rampant poverty, prevalent disease (nutritional disorders, infectious disease), and violent crime in an increasingly unequal society fostered the growth of socialism and the emergence of a “Red Clydeside”
The rapid industrial expansion of Glasgow was facilitated by the exploitation of local coal deposits and mineral resources. The discovery of ironstone deposits in Lanarkshire led to the construction of iron works and forges. Collieries were developed in adjacent coalfields and later integrated with the iron works. The deepening of the shallow River Clyde between 1770 and 1812 allowed sea-going vessels to service Glasgow directly, instead of having to rely on outlying ports at Greenock, Dumbarton, and Port Glasgow. Shipbuilding on the River Clyde and its tributaries, dating back to 1711 in Greenock, produced around 25,000 naval, merchant and passenger ships, including large cruisers. Fairfield Shipyard at Govan and John Brown Shipyard at Clydebank were among the leading shipbuilders in the world, supplied with steel plate from Lanarkshire steelworks. Competition from Asian shipbuilders led to the eventual demise of a once world-dominating industry and contributed to a period of economic decline, from which Glasgow has continued to recover over time.
Although Glasgow may at times, and in places, appear to be a bit gritty and rough around the edges, COP26 attendees can expect to encounter a vibrant city, filled with green spaces and graced by attractive stone buildings. The bustling centre provides a wide choice of shops , bars and eateries and an active night life, while a large selection of museums, art galleries, and theatres reflect a changing image that led Glasgow to be named European City of Culture in 1990. Apart from the scattered remnants of industrial architecture, the city features many more conventional architectural delights. Enthusiasts will find much to appreciate in the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, and Robert Adam. And it is also close to the natural splendour of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. While the business of saving Planet Earth must obviously take priority, there is much in Glasgow and its surrounds that can help attendees take their minds off, if only for a short while, the weighty issues of the day that they have come to grapple with.
Ashis Banerjee