Demos Project : Glasgow 2020

"Glasgow - we'll set about ye"

charlie.tims@demos.co.uk ( Charlie Tims ) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:00:41 -0100

After the July 7th attacks the internet rearguard came in the form of we are not afraid. In Glasgow it's come in the form of www.johnsweaton.com, a tribute site to the baggage handler who on seeing a burning man attacking a police officer said to himself "what's the score, I've got to get this sorted" and set about the assailant. On the site you can watch his interviews (i'll try and embed one here) - but more importantly you can use paypal to buy him a pint at the Holiday Inn next to the airport. There's a campaign to get 1000 pints behind the bar, and i think they're up to 600 now.

The Dreaming City

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:18:57 -0100

Demos is proud to announce a landmark event:

The Dreaming City: Glasgow 2020 and the power of mass imagination

23rd May 2007, 6- 8pm, followed by music and drinks

Over 18 months Demos led an experiment to open up Glasgow’s future to the mass imagination of its citizens. Over 5000 people took part. This event will share the outcomes of the experiment and explore its implications for the everyday governance, culture, design and planning of cities.

This event is for anyone who cares about cities and how we shape our shared futures within them. Speakers include Gerry Hassan, head of Glasgow 2020, Steve Purcell, Leader of Glasgow City Council (tbc) and Jan Amon, Director of Fargfabriken in Stockholm who will bring an international perspective.

The Dreaming City is going to be an unforgettable celebration of a vibrant future for Glasgow. It is a free event but booking is important. To reserve a place or find out more information please send an email to dreamingcity@demos.co.uk, call 0207 367 4200, or visit www.demos.co.uk.

To find out more about Glasgow 2020 visit the website.

No bank holiday north of the border, but there was a Big Dream.

charlie.tims@demos.co.uk ( Charlie Tims ) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 01:49:27 -0100

It was The Big Dream on Saturday, which was the last public event in the Glasgow 2020 project. We took over a series of rooms in the recently reopened Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, in the name of exciting public interest in thinking about and deliberating the future of Glasgow. There are a load of photos here, and explanations of a few of the things that were doing in each of the spaces.

If Glasgow 2020 has a core philosophy a the moment, it's that cities are the stories they tell about themselves. These stories influence how key decision makers and leaders try to shape the future. Problem is, tending to stem from journalists/marketers/the tourist board/city council, these stories are not democratically created. They become "official-stories" of the city's future, told by institutions. Glasgow 2020 has been an attempt to find "the non-institutional" view of the city, through different imagination exercises, that have taken place since last October.

Like more conventional futures exercises, we have focused on "the possible" and "the desirable". In the name of the former we have run several story-writing competitions and in the later we have run a campaign to collect wishes for 2020 across the city. We have tried to bring these together in workshops with over 25 different groups of people across the city ranging from single parents to hairdressers and public housing tenants. These discussions have also lead to the creation of stories, which have in turn been developed into polished stories by published authors. A good example of this is The Icarus Tree by Suhayl Saadi.

We hope that these processes and various other things we have tried (turning a boat into an office, site specific instillations about the future in porter-cabins, workshops on trains etc) will add up to a new non-institutional story of the city's future. The Big Dream was about testing some "prototype" non-institutional stories we have tried to stitch together, from the project so far..

For what it's worth, the most consistent reoccuring theme in the project, which isn't really recognised in the official story of Glasgow's future is gender. But more about that later.

The Big Dream

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:56:43 -0100

The Big Dream is a day-long event to imagine the future of Glasgow; its streets, its people, its parks, the night-time and the day-time. Come and share your ideas, wishes and stories for the future with writers, poets, thinkers and dreamers from across the city. Come for the whole day, or just drop in for an hour. Bring your family and friends. The day will include story writing workshops, wish-making sessions, games, politicians, writers, comics and singers. This event is a part of Glasgow 2020 - a citywide project to imagine the future of Glasgow.