Wonderful series shows how complex and interesting our towns are, by Scotland's Towns Partnership Chief Officer, Phil Prentice
Following the thought-provoking launch by poet John Burnside on Scotland’s Towns in May of this year, we have now reached the end of this series showcasing the best of Scotland’s Towns.
The depth and richness of our towns has been matched by the quality of journalism from the team at the Sunday Herald.
The launch article by Burnside was an individual memory of the journey through post industrial Scotland and a vision of towns which offered hope in shared spaces in a sustainable, culturally rich and ecologically friendly way.
We then moved on to Ayr where we explored the notion of our how our 21st century lives were changing the role and function of what were once economic powerhouses.
The lesson from Ayr is to look at a wonderful array of natural and built assets and to build upon these collaboratively.
From Ayr we headed up the coast and inland to Paisley to explore how the world renowned Paisley Pattern was being used as a springboard to reinvent a town based upon its culture and heritage. The feature provided us with insight as to how strong political leadership can help inspire a new culture of optimism and innovation.
The next chapter looked at the rich tapestry of towns across the Borders where the much vaunted Waverley Line opened on September 6.
This demonstrated how trains, textiles and tourism were being used to revitalise local towns and communities. We visited Falkirk where the Wheel, Kelpies, Helix and pink buses were linking the town to its key assets and then we covered the nation’s best Theme Towns ... Kirkcudbright, West Kilbride, Castle Douglas, Oban and Wigtown. Today we look at the dynamics between our cities and towns.
This wonderful series has hopefully shown how complex and interesting our towns are. They hold our culture and heritage, they are home to almost 70 per cent of our population and two thirds of our jobs and businesses, they have libraries, health centres, schools and colleges, museums, leisure centres, historic buildings, public services, green spaces and transport hubs. It’s this complexity which makes the task of rebuilding a challenge for us all, but also points to the way forward for wider collaboration and partnership.
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