This article presents the history of Glasgow’s architectural and urban modernization, which resulted, among others, in the serial design of both modernist tower blocks and low-rise buildings, extensive ‘slum clearance’, motorway construction, and the establishment of new towns in the wider area. Drawing on select archival materials and a variety of published studies, the article draws a bigger picture of modern Glasgow, as it evolved as a result of comprehensive ideas, their partial implementation, and their subsequent modification over the course of seven decades.

The article shows that within the umbrella approach “modernist urbanism” there were in fact a number of different strategies. They were related to different municipal and national institutions, whose rivalries had a significant impact on the built outcome, and eventually proved to be more disruptive than the values and visions that these institutions shared. It will also show that the modern aspirations for grandeur were intrinsically vulnerable to disruption, and were largely implemented in a makeshift and reactive manner, which made the ambitious attempt to convert an ailing industrial city into a flourishing decentralised metropolis largely unsuccessful.

This is noticeable to date in particular architectural and urban forms, for example if one compares the peripheral housing estate of Castlemilk (built from 1954 by the City of Glasgow) to the new towns of East Kilbride and Cumbernauld (built from 1947 and 1955, respectively, by the British national government), or to the “Comprehensive Development Area” Hutchesontown-Gorbals (begun 1957, led by the City of Glasgow) in the city centre.