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Scotland is a breathtakingly
beautiful country.
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No more so than from the air.
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00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:22,400
It boasts one of the most photogenic
landscapes in the world.
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With our mountain glens
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and romantic lochs, it is no wonder
it is one of the most photographed.
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Ever since the invention of flight,
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photographers have taken to the air.
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Their photographs are a unique
window into our past.
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And a record of our constantly
changing way of life.
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00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,800
The aerial view has transformed
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how we understand and plan our
towns and cities.
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00:00:56,300 --> 00:00:59,820
From the graceful design of
Edinburgh's New Town
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to building a motorway
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right through the middle of Glasgow.
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I mean, can you imagine them putting
a motorway
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through the heart of Edinburgh?
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Bringing archive photography to
life,
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and recreating places that
exist only as photographs.
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We'll show how planners have used
the view from above
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to play God with our towns and cities.
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Defining how we live our lives, our
homes, where we work,
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and how we get there.
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This is the story of our great
cities from above.
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This is the story of Scotland from
the sky.
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It is a story we start here,
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in one of Glasgow's best loved
green spaces.
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Bellahouston Park.
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And I'm going to try to float
a camera
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up to 300 feet in the air.
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I have got my balloons, I am ready
to reel them out.
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I am not sure this is going to work.
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OK, here goes nothing.
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This is us passing 200 feet now.
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And we're going to keep going.
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80 years ago, visitors to
Bellahouston Park
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could see views of their city
from this great height
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for the very first time.
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Between May and December 1938,
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the park was the home of the
Empire Exhibition.
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It's hard to believe today,
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00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,200
but 170 acres of this park
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were transformed into a remarkable
display of new architecture.
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And although nobody knew it at the
time,
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there was something here that would
come to define how tens of thousands
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of Scots would live over the next
half century.
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Aerial photographers captured the
park's dramatic transformation.
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The centrepiece of the exhibition
was this tower,
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300 feet high and with three
observation decks
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perched right at the top.
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It was dubbed the Tower of Empire.
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But it was actually Scotland's
first skyscraper.
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Alex Keith went to the top of the
tower as a nine-year-old.
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The tower dominated the whole site.
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You must have been excited to go up it.
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Well, one particular Saturday morning,
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my parents decided that it was about
time that we did go up the tower.
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I can't remember now whether they
gave me the money
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or whether it was a free ride
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in the two express lifts that took
you to the top of the tower.
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That was as exciting as you'd ever
want to be, the speed of these...
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..actual lifts went at.
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And what do you remember from your
view from the top of there?
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A different world. Looking all over
Glasgow,
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you could see the shipyards,
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you could see literally for miles around.
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You could see the hills away
towards Loch Lomond side.
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A vast area.
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It was... You could see for about
a 90-mile radius.
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Have you ever been up a taller
building than that?
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No. No, that was the tallest, and I
think, in all probability,
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I would have had to have gone to
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America, New York, to go up
anything higher.
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So, could you believe that there was
a site like this in Glasgow?
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No, I think we took it for granted.
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Glasgow can do anything, if we put
our minds to it.
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A staggering 12 million people from
around the world came to visit
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the exhibition in the six months it was open.
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They came to enjoy the bandstand,
cafes, pavilions,
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and remarkable custom-made palaces.
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The designer of its tower was
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the visionary modern architect
Thomas Tait.
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For Tait, the future was a life
lived high in the sky,
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and his building was a symbol of
a new Scotland,
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raised up to look down on the old
one from above.
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But this Scotland would take another
few decades to arrive.
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When the exhibition closed, most of
the buildings were soon taken down.
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Tait's tower had been built to last,
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designed as the first new icon of a
modern Glasgow skyline.
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But it survived just one year.
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It too was demolished,
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out of fear that its height would
attract
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German bombers in World War II.
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Nowadays the tower is nothing but a memory.
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Even its foundations are overgrown
by the trees on top of Ibrox Hill.
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The city of the future was gone, but
not forgotten, and not for good.
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The record of how our towns and
cities have changed
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over the past century
is kept here,
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in the archives of Historic
Environment Scotland, in Edinburgh.
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It's home to Scotland's national
collection of aerial photography,
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the biggest resource of its kind in Europe.
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They are literally millions of
photographs in the collection.
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And for over a decade, I've worked
in this vast archive,
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delving into its hidden corners,
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00:07:01,300 --> 00:07:05,100
exploring its history, and its
secrets.
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00:07:05,100 --> 00:07:10,100
Each photograph, like this beautiful
shot of Aberdeen from 1989,
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00:07:10,100 --> 00:07:14,500
is a window into our past,
showing us how we lived.
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00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:17,900
But these pictures are more than
just mute images.
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The information they contain has transformed
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how we see and change our urban landscapes.
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Our workhorse is this trusty little Cessna.
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We fly all over Scotland in it,
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carefully documenting the world below.
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Every year, we head to the air to take
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thousands of new photographs to
add to our collection.
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But before the invention of flight,
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there were huge gaps in our
understanding of the country.
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300 years ago,
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the country's mountainous terrain
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was unknown territory to many Scots.
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And to those who ruled them.
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For outsiders, the Highlands were
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a mysterious and intimidating landscape.
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00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,800
After successive Jacobite rebellions,
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the Government realised they needed
a more complete picture
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of the lay of the land.
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So they hatched an ambitious plan,
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to accurately map the Highlands of
Scotland for the very first time.
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To complete this Herculean task,
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the Government turned to a maverick
map-maker from Carluke.
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00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:01,700
He was just 21 years old, and his
name was William Roy.
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00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:10,500
He began his survey here, at the tip
of Loch Ness in the summer of 1747.
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Roy set off with a surveyor's wheel,
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marked the first and second bends
with two poles,
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and then measured the distance
between them with metal chains.
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And on and on he went.
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Over and over again.
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He repeated this for every new bend
in the road.
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You've got to wonder how many
bends he measured.
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Rather him than me.
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Roy charted not just distances, but
also the features of the landscape.
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Over the next five years,
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Roy and his team mapped a remarkable
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15,000 square miles of the Highlands.
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Every single road, river, loch, mountain,
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glen and village was translated into
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a spectacular patchwork of northern
Scotland.
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They're beautiful ink and
watercolour maps.
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They really are a phenomenal achievement
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given the basic equipment Roy used,
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the hostile terrain and the limited
manpower available to him.
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00:10:24,300 --> 00:10:28,500
And you can see just how accurate
his maps are
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when you match them with the real
view from above.
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It revealed an incredibly detailed
view of the landscape,
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as if seen from the sky.
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Once you understand a country's
landscape, then you can change it.
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Armed with the knowledge Roy's maps
gave them,
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the Government could now make plans
for how to, in their words,
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improve the Highlands.
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Roads, bridges, jobs and industry -
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all were on the drawing board.
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But how was all of this going to be achieved
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in such an unforgiving landscape?
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Step forward, some of Scotland's
world-famous engineers,
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like Thomas Telford.
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He thought if you could open up travel
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and trade in this tough terrain,
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you could forge new communities,
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you could engineer a future for the Highlands.
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One man who has made it his life's
work to study the history of the
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Highlands is Jim Hunter.
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The notion of actually creating things,
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settlements, towns, from scratch,
that was entirely new.
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And, of course, the main difficulty
was to engineer
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enough economic activity to make
these places viable and worthwhile.
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And how big a role did Thomas
Telford play
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in the transformation of this landscape?
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Thomas Telford was key to this.
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He played an enormous role in the
development of the Highlands
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in the years around and just after
1800.
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He didn't always hang around to
oversee the details, as it were,
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but in the beginning it was Telford that was
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designing these communities,
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designing the facilities that went
along with them.
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So he was absolutely critical to
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what was happening in the Highlands
at that time.
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Telford's mission was to tame the
wild landscape.
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To make it accessible.
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And so he built new roads and bridges.
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Like this beautiful crossing here in Dunkeld.
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This new bridge could carry an army
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if the Highlands rose up again in rebellion.
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But it could also carry cattle and grain,
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and help bring money into the economy.
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In the late 1780s,
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Telford was asked by the British
Fisheries Board
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to help design and build, from scratch,
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new fishing towns and villages in
the Highlands.
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Ullapool is nestled on the edge of
Loch Broom.
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And it is hard to think of a more
picturesque spot to build on.
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When you look down from above,
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you can see it's a cleverly
arranged pattern
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of neat little streets.
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Work was completed in 1798,
and even to this day,
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little has changed with the layout.
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This street, Shore Street,
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runs parallel to the waters of
Loch Broom.
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And originally it was reserved for
public buildings
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and storehouses for the fish.
209
00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,500
The workers' streets were placed
behind, going east to west,
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and its beauty was its compact simplicity.
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00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,000
These planned ports were built to
bring prosperity
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to the people of the Highlands for
generations to come.
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00:14:30,500 --> 00:14:32,800
Ullapool's neat and ordered streets
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became the model for later fishing
towns, like Pultneytown, in Wick.
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00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,000
But in Ullapool's case, despite
these best laid plans,
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as a fishing port it was a crushing failure.
217
00:14:45,100 --> 00:14:48,400
Within a few years, local herring
stocks had vanished,
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00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,900
and the town's economy collapsed for
the best part of a century.
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The herring may have fled,
but Ullapool survived.
220
00:15:01,900 --> 00:15:07,200
Today it's a tourist hot spot and
gateway to the Outer Hebrides.
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00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:12,100
It's testament to the vision of the
original planners
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that over 200 years later,
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Ullapool's practical design has endured.
224
00:15:23,900 --> 00:15:27,700
30 years before Ullapool's construction,
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00:15:27,700 --> 00:15:30,800
a new urban order on a much grander scale
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was emerging in Edinburgh:
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00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:34,300
the New Town.
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00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,900
At the time, it was the largest
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planned city development in the world...
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..spreading out over the empty
fields to the north of the castle.
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For many of its residents today,
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00:15:52,500 --> 00:15:55,000
there's nowhere better to live.
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Walking around here, it is easy
to see why.
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00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:03,400
It is a masterpiece of thoughtful
planning, a monument to order,
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00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:05,600
rationality, elegance,
236
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,500
full of grand townhouses and
sweeping crescents.
237
00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:13,600
For me, the New Town has always
been a kind of architectural poem,
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00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:15,800
written in stone.
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It's even more beautiful
when viewed from above.
240
00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,100
In the days before planes and drones,
241
00:16:28,100 --> 00:16:32,700
there was one eccentric Edinburgh
resident who was fascinated by high
242
00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:34,900
viewpoints over the city.
243
00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,600
His name was Patrick Geddis,
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00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,300
and he would often be seen leading groups
245
00:16:41,300 --> 00:16:45,300
up to the tall tower at the top of
the Royal Mile.
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00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:47,400
"Perhaps you are wondering why
247
00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:49,100
"I hurried you up here from the street",
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00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:50,400
he would ask the group.
249
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,400
"Simply because the exertion of
climbing gets the
250
00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,400
"blood pumping, clears the fog from
your brain,
251
00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:01,000
"and prepares you for the mental
thrill of these outlooks."
252
00:17:04,500 --> 00:17:09,000
The tower was one of the highest
spots in the whole of Edinburgh.
253
00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,500
And right at the very top was
a camera obscura.
254
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,400
It's like a giant camera laid on
its back,
255
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,800
with a mirror this size on top of
the building,
256
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,700
directing light down onto this
wooden table.
257
00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:30,700
It allowed the viewer to look down
on the city and the landscape from
258
00:17:30,700 --> 00:17:34,500
above, charting the relationship
between the two.
259
00:17:34,500 --> 00:17:37,100
It offered views in every direction,
260
00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:40,500
but it also showed you more than
just scenery.
261
00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,500
Geddis liked the view so much that
he bought the tower
262
00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:49,200
and its camera obscura.
263
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:54,200
He was entranced by the high vantage
it offered.
264
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:56,600
Because it allowed him to understand
the city
265
00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,100
in a completely different way.
266
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:06,100
And from his beloved Outlook Tower,
267
00:18:06,100 --> 00:18:08,200
he could see the old town and
the new town
268
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,800
set opposite each other like
two pages of an open book,
269
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,000
telling a remarkable story of urban history.
270
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:16,900
He could see the past but also,
271
00:18:16,900 --> 00:18:20,300
crucially, he could imagine the future.
272
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,000
The Edinburgh of Patrick Geddis's era
273
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,400
was very much a city of the mind,
274
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,400
graceful and refined.
275
00:18:36,500 --> 00:18:42,000
And a world away from her brash and
unruly neighbour, Glasgow.
276
00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:45,700
Here it was all about the muscle.
277
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:51,800
A rapid industrial growth, which
began in the late 18th-century.
278
00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:01,200
By the mid-1800s, it was
Scotland's biggest city.
279
00:19:04,700 --> 00:19:09,000
The old centre was the medieval cathedral.
280
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,300
But as the Industrial Revolution
powered onwards,
281
00:19:14,300 --> 00:19:18,700
it was left isolated on the city's fringes.
282
00:19:18,700 --> 00:19:24,700
And factories and tenements spread
like a rash, moving westwards.
283
00:19:26,500 --> 00:19:30,700
In 1853, the writer Hugh MacDonald
memorably wrote,
284
00:19:30,700 --> 00:19:35,200
"The great city dims the autumn sky
with its canopy of smoke."
285
00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:39,200
By this time, Glasgow was on its way
to becoming one of the greatest
286
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:44,000
manufacturing machines the world had
ever seen, a city of iron and steam,
287
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,000
fire and steel.
288
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:53,300
Workers flocked to the city in their
hundreds and thousands from the
289
00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:57,500
Highlands and Lowlands and across
the sea from Ireland.
290
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,400
They were packed into slum tenements.
291
00:20:02,500 --> 00:20:08,000
Overcrowded and dirty, disease and
suffering were rife.
292
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,800
Living conditions may have been tough,
293
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,500
but there was a welcome escape at
the weekends - the football.
294
00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:21,200
Over the course of the 20th century,
295
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,300
the football stadium gained a unique status.
296
00:20:24,300 --> 00:20:29,000
Nowhere else could compare to it as
a place for mass gathering.
297
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:34,000
Not churches, not markets, not civic
squares, not cinemas, not parks.
298
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,800
And nowhere is more hallowed than
this place,
299
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,300
our national stadium,
Hampden Park.
300
00:20:44,700 --> 00:20:47,000
When it was finished in 1903,
301
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,900
it was the biggest football stadium
in the world.
302
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,800
You can see from this photograph
taken in 1927 that Hampden Park was
303
00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:02,100
largely surrounded by green fields
and a scattering of houses.
304
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,100
The empty fields have long since
been swallowed up
305
00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:10,100
by the advancing city of Glasgow.
306
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,300
In little over a century,
307
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:15,500
both the stadium itself and the
surrounding area
308
00:21:15,500 --> 00:21:18,600
have changed beyond all recognition.
309
00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:21,900
At the time of Hampden's construction,
310
00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:24,900
Glasgow was still a city of chaotic growth,
311
00:21:24,900 --> 00:21:28,000
where planning was an afterthought.
312
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,700
But by the 1920s and '30s,
313
00:21:33,700 --> 00:21:39,600
fresh ideas about how to redesign
our cities began to emerge.
314
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,600
And this time the planners had
a new tool - flight.
315
00:21:57,700 --> 00:22:02,800
Sitting up in the front of a
helicopter is awe-inspiring.
316
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,900
Up here, you can look out and spot features
317
00:22:08,900 --> 00:22:11,700
you just can't see from the ground.
318
00:22:21,500 --> 00:22:24,600
To the pioneers of flight and aerial photography,
319
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,600
these views were a revelation.
320
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,700
Paris was the first-ever city to be
flown over by an aircraft.
321
00:22:37,700 --> 00:22:41,200
As a student, the French architect
Le Corbusier
322
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,000
watched the pilot circling
323
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,400
the Eiffel Tower and became
fascinated with flying.
324
00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:51,900
Like Patrick Geddis before him,
325
00:22:51,900 --> 00:22:56,700
he understood the most valuable view
of a city was from the air.
326
00:22:57,300 --> 00:23:01,600
But not everything that Le Corbusier
saw impressed him.
327
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,600
After one flight, he wrote,
328
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,300
"Fly over our 19th-century cities
329
00:23:06,300 --> 00:23:09,000
"with row after row of houses
without hearts,
330
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,900
"furrowed with their canyons
of soulless streets.
331
00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:14,300
"Look down and judge for yourself.
332
00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:18,300
"The architects of the past didn't
build for men,
333
00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:20,900
"they built for money."
334
00:23:25,900 --> 00:23:29,400
Le Corbusier thought he saw
a terrible truth,
335
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,500
that cities were killing the people
who lived in them.
336
00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:39,400
"Cities with their misery must be
torn down", he said.
337
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:43,600
"They must be largely destroyed, and
fresh cities built."
338
00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:56,400
This God's-eye view transformed
Le Corbusier's thoughts
339
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,500
on how to rebuild.
340
00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:08,100
And, like Thomas Tait, he favoured
building high.
341
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,800
For Le Corbusier's Scottish disciples,
342
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:21,000
the cities of the Central Belt were
prime candidates for his new vision.
343
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,800
But as Europe went to war in 1939,
344
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,600
the architect's plans would have to wait.
345
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,800
The millions of tonnes of bombs
dropped during World War II
346
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,300
caused untold damage.
347
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,900
While Scotland avoided the brunt
of the destruction,
348
00:24:44,900 --> 00:24:47,700
the hardships the ordinary people suffered
349
00:24:47,700 --> 00:24:51,900
led to a strong desire to
improve living conditions.
350
00:24:56,300 --> 00:25:00,500
It was time to look at the country afresh...
351
00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:03,700
..to examine every inch of land.
352
00:25:07,500 --> 00:25:11,700
When the RAF pilots returned
home from the war,
353
00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:15,900
they were given a new mission...
354
00:25:15,900 --> 00:25:20,800
..to make a photographic map
of the whole of Scotland.
355
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,000
The same planes, pilots and photographers
356
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,100
who had helped plan and carry out
the bombing of mainland Europe
357
00:25:29,100 --> 00:25:32,500
were now instrumental in rebuilding
on the home front.
358
00:25:32,500 --> 00:25:35,300
It was an incredibly important job.
359
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,000
But it was also mind-numbingly dull.
360
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:48,200
As one pilot wrote, "On each trip we
would be allocated a block of land,
361
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,800
"40 miles long by 30 miles wide.
362
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:57,000
"This was divided into ten runs,
each three miles apart."
363
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:02,700
"400 miles of staring at the ground
through a bomb sight."
364
00:26:03,700 --> 00:26:06,000
"Tedious in the extreme."
365
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,600
They carried on like this for six years.
366
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:14,700
In 500 flights, they took nearly
300,000 photographs.
367
00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:19,500
Their work effectively took
planners into the sky.
368
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,600
Two centuries after William Roy,
369
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,400
Scotland could once again
be viewed from above.
370
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:37,300
Mosaic maps were stitched together,
each one metre square,
371
00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:41,700
corresponding to 25 square
kilometres of land.
372
00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:46,000
Putting these mosaic maps together
was painstaking work.
373
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,400
It's like the world's hardest
jigsaw.
374
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,500
But what could be laid on top
was the blueprint
375
00:26:52,500 --> 00:26:54,400
for a post-war nation -
376
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,900
new roads here, new forests there,
377
00:26:56,900 --> 00:26:59,600
could this be the spot for a new dam?
378
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:05,100
And could we simply redesign the
whole layout of our biggest city?
379
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,500
This 1945 public information film
380
00:27:13,500 --> 00:27:18,900
shows Glasgow's Victorian layout was
no longer fit for purpose.
381
00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:21,400
1,000 feet in the air,
382
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,300
looking down on a city of congested
buildings and narrow roads,
383
00:27:25,300 --> 00:27:30,200
rent with railway viaducts and ships
which load and unload at the very
384
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,200
heart of the city's gates.
385
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,800
Down there, a great population,
386
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,300
living under outmoded conditions
387
00:27:37,300 --> 00:27:42,100
which give rise to much confusion,
as well as discomfort.
388
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:50,600
Nowhere else in Europe was as
densely populated as this.
389
00:27:56,100 --> 00:27:58,700
Something clearly had to be done.
390
00:27:58,700 --> 00:28:03,000
Planners needed to think fast,
and they needed to think big.
391
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,400
In the end, two vastly different
visions for the city's future,
392
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:12,000
both inspired by the God's-eye view,
battled it out.
393
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,000
The most radical was contained
in this document,
394
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:21,700
written in 1945 by Glasgow's master
of works, Robert Bruce.
395
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,200
A devoted follower of Le Corbusier,
396
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:33,200
he believed the best way forward was
simply to wipe the slate clean.
397
00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:37,500
What he proposed in his
infamous 1945 report
398
00:28:37,500 --> 00:28:42,000
was the levelling of the old
centre of Glasgow in its entirety.
399
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,700
Nothing would be saved from his
savage planning scalpel.
400
00:28:45,700 --> 00:28:49,500
Iconic buildings, like Central
Station, the School of Art,
401
00:28:49,500 --> 00:28:51,900
even the City Chambers behind me,
402
00:28:51,900 --> 00:28:54,500
they would all be demolished.
403
00:29:03,300 --> 00:29:07,000
A new Glasgow would arise
in its place.
404
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:12,000
And it would be dominated by
skyscrapers.
405
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,200
The plan for Glasgow of tomorrow
is taking shape.
406
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,800
The overcrowded and
overdeveloped city
407
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,400
will give place to a new
and free-flowing city.
408
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,000
An intriguing model of Bruce's plan
409
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,500
was put on display at
the Kelvin Hall,
410
00:29:31,500 --> 00:29:35,400
to show the public what this new
Glasgow would look like.
411
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:42,600
It bore little resemblance to the
city Glaswegians called home.
412
00:29:45,100 --> 00:29:49,100
Bruce's plan was met with fierce resistance.
413
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,700
His main opponent was a dapper Englishman,
414
00:29:53,700 --> 00:29:57,400
famous for his post-war rebuilding
plans for London -
415
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,000
Patrick Abercrombie.
416
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,400
Rather than build upwards in
confined spaces,
417
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,400
Abercrombie advocated low-rise living
418
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,100
in a series of brand-new towns,
built on open land,
419
00:30:10,100 --> 00:30:12,900
far beyond the city limits.
420
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,300
Glasgow's leaders now had two very
different visions
421
00:30:18,300 --> 00:30:20,900
of the city's future
in front of them.
422
00:30:20,900 --> 00:30:24,700
Incredibly, they seemed to agree
with Bruce.
423
00:30:24,700 --> 00:30:28,700
His controversial vision was
approved in 1947.
424
00:30:28,700 --> 00:30:34,700
At the same time, plans were being
made for skyscrapers across Glasgow.
425
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,900
Huge swathes of the old tenement
blocks were demolished,
426
00:30:40,900 --> 00:30:45,200
knocked down to make way for
high-rise flats.
427
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,300
One of the earliest high-rise
buildings
428
00:30:53,300 --> 00:30:55,700
can still be found here in Cardonald,
429
00:30:55,700 --> 00:30:58,400
in the south-west of Glasgow.
430
00:31:01,100 --> 00:31:05,600
Work began on Moss Heights in 1950,
431
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,800
and took four years to complete.
432
00:31:13,100 --> 00:31:14,700
For potential new residents,
433
00:31:14,700 --> 00:31:18,100
these flats couldn't be more
different from the old tenements.
434
00:31:18,100 --> 00:31:22,600
They were ten storeys high,
offering stunning views over the
whole city.
435
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,600
And inside was a transformation,
436
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,600
kitchens with all mod cons,
437
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:30,600
living rooms kept toasty by a revolutionary
438
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:32,700
coal-powered central heating system,
439
00:31:32,700 --> 00:31:35,200
which was included in the rent.
440
00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:40,800
They were marketed as the perfect
place to bring up young families.
441
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,800
In this house, with all its modern amenities,
442
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:45,400
the mother can care for her bairns
443
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:47,700
as she's always wanted to.
444
00:31:47,700 --> 00:31:50,700
She's no longer haunted by the fear
they may have wandered away to some
445
00:31:50,700 --> 00:31:52,400
traffic-filled street,
446
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:54,600
or that they're breathing germs of disease
447
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,400
in a refuse-littered back court.
448
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,000
Almost 70 years after they were built,
449
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,800
young families still love living here.
450
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,400
Alison, you've lived in tower
blocks for most of your life,
451
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,700
haven't you? Yeah, I have, since I
was about seven.
452
00:32:13,700 --> 00:32:17,600
I lived in tower blocks in Ibrox
on a side 17 high -
453
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,300
and I'm petrified of heights,
454
00:32:19,300 --> 00:32:20,600
absolutely petrified.
455
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,600
So you could just imagine looking
out the windae - never happened.
456
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,200
But here you only have two on a landing.
457
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,700
The one that I stayed in before -
you had five houses on the landing,
458
00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:33,400
so it was quite in-your-face, if you
know what I mean?
459
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,700
Now you're bringing up a child as well.
460
00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:37,700
How does she enjoy living here?
461
00:32:37,700 --> 00:32:40,500
She loves it here because of the space.
462
00:32:40,500 --> 00:32:43,900
They have a garden club and things
like that, homework club.
463
00:32:43,900 --> 00:32:47,100
She loves going to that. She's met
quite a few new friends there.
464
00:32:47,100 --> 00:32:52,000
So she enjoys... You get a load of
different people turning up and it's
465
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,400
just getting to know your
neighbours,
466
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:56,400
which is something you didn't really
do before
467
00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:00,000
in the flats I lived in before. So
you have a real community feel here?
468
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000
Yeah. There's a lot of different
nationalities here
469
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,800
so we're trying to bring them together
470
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,300
because other places it'd be,
"You're there, we're here."
471
00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:13,000
But here it's we're trying to bring
them all in and get to know
472
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:14,400
your community, in a sense.
473
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,300
If you had to sum up what it's like
to live in these blocks,
474
00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:21,600
how would you put that? I've always
liked living here.
475
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,700
I've been here, what, 13 and a half
year now?
476
00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:27,800
And I don't see myself leaving it
any time soon.
477
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,100
The view from the top of Moss Heights
478
00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:35,200
is one that Thomas Tait would
approve of.
479
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:39,700
You can see far out across the city
in every direction.
480
00:33:40,100 --> 00:33:45,100
Being set right in the heart of
Cardonald is also an advantage.
481
00:33:45,100 --> 00:33:50,500
There are shops nearby and plenty
of buses into the city centre.
482
00:33:52,300 --> 00:33:55,100
After a multi-million pound makeover,
483
00:33:55,100 --> 00:33:58,300
these three blocks are stalwart survivors,
484
00:33:58,300 --> 00:34:01,600
still standing proud over the city.
485
00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:04,200
Moss Heights is a useful reminder
486
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,500
that not all Glasgow high-rises were,
487
00:34:06,500 --> 00:34:10,100
in Billy Connolly's memorable
phrase, deserts with windows.
488
00:34:10,100 --> 00:34:14,500
Some of them have proved to be great
places to live, built to last,
489
00:34:14,500 --> 00:34:17,400
and clearly loved by the residents.
490
00:34:20,300 --> 00:34:23,500
In the years after Moss Heights' completion,
491
00:34:23,500 --> 00:34:27,500
many more high-rises sprung up all
over the country.
492
00:34:27,500 --> 00:34:31,300
These huge concrete slabs fitted in perfectly
493
00:34:31,300 --> 00:34:34,800
with Robert Bruce's vision
of the modern city.
494
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:39,100
Streets in the sky, not streets on
the ground.
495
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,900
But Bruce had already resigned in disgust
496
00:34:43,900 --> 00:34:47,500
before any of the new tower
blocks were finished.
497
00:34:49,900 --> 00:34:51,700
In 1949,
498
00:34:51,700 --> 00:34:54,500
his proposal to demolish the city centre
499
00:34:54,500 --> 00:34:57,500
was dismissed by the Glasgow Corporation
500
00:34:57,500 --> 00:35:00,600
because of its exorbitant cost.
501
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:07,000
Instead, they ruled in favour of the
Patrick Abercrombie's new town plan.
502
00:35:15,300 --> 00:35:17,700
Hi, Ronnie.
Morning, Jamie. How are you?
503
00:35:17,700 --> 00:35:20,500
Fine. What's the weather looking
like today?
504
00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:22,800
It's looking quite good. The wind's
right down the runway,
505
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,200
visibility's 10km and the
cloud base is quite high.
506
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:27,800
So today should go quite well.
507
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:29,400
Let's get going.
508
00:35:35,100 --> 00:35:38,600
I'm going up in the National
Collection of Aerial Photography's
509
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:43,700
survey plane to have a look for
myself at some of these new towns.
510
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,000
It's quite cramped inside.
511
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,000
It's like I'm in a mini with wings.
512
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,100
But the discomfort is worth it.
513
00:36:00,100 --> 00:36:03,700
As ever, the views are fantastic.
514
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:11,400
Most of Scotland's new towns were
built on greenfield sites.
515
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,600
Take this photograph from the summer of 1947.
516
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,900
There are rolling fields and hedgerows,
517
00:36:21,900 --> 00:36:24,000
in the distance a small village,
518
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,500
and at its centre a bright rectangle
of corn being worked over by one
519
00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:30,000
farmer and his horse.
520
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,900
It's an idyllic country scene...
521
00:36:37,100 --> 00:36:41,400
Gone forever, buried a few years later
522
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:46,200
beneath Scotland's first new town,
East Kilbride.
523
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:58,100
Four more new towns were developed
in the 1940s and '50s.
524
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,000
The idea behind them was simple,
525
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,400
to provide new homes for
up to 350,000 people
526
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:13,600
in places outside Scotland's
biggest cities.
527
00:37:23,300 --> 00:37:28,100
The second of these new towns was
Glenrothes in Fife.
528
00:37:37,900 --> 00:37:42,800
The town was custom-designed with
curved clusters of low rise housing,
529
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,300
grouped together in separate precincts.
530
00:37:45,300 --> 00:37:46,900
It couldn't have been more different
531
00:37:46,900 --> 00:37:48,600
from the overcrowded tenements that
532
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,000
people had left behind.
533
00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:57,600
And you can see just how much green
space Glenrothes enjoys.
534
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:00,600
For the new town planners,
535
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,500
recreational spaces were essential
to quality of life.
536
00:38:04,500 --> 00:38:09,100
From up here you can see how trees
and parks flow between the roads and
537
00:38:09,100 --> 00:38:12,400
housing, like rivers of greenery.
538
00:38:17,300 --> 00:38:21,100
Everyone seems to have a decent
sized garden, too.
539
00:38:21,100 --> 00:38:25,400
It's no wonder the town has won
so many Britain in Bloom awards.
540
00:38:27,100 --> 00:38:29,000
The different areas of Glenrothes
541
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,100
were named after the farms the town
was built over.
542
00:38:33,100 --> 00:38:36,100
Some of them don't sound very
Scottish.
543
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:42,800
Each district was to be its own
self-sustaining community,
544
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:49,000
with shops, churches, schools and
even public art.
545
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,500
Many of the town's early residents
were brought here
546
00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:59,100
to work in the newly-built
Rothes Colliery.
547
00:39:01,900 --> 00:39:04,900
The 1951 plan of action for the town
548
00:39:04,900 --> 00:39:09,200
forecast a population of around
30,000.
549
00:39:09,700 --> 00:39:12,700
But building progress was slow.
550
00:39:13,300 --> 00:39:16,300
These maps, each five years apart,
551
00:39:16,300 --> 00:39:20,600
show how the town grew gradually in
size over the decades.
552
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,900
Everything here was built from
scratch - schools, play areas,
553
00:39:24,900 --> 00:39:27,400
a new shopping centre,
administrative buildings,
554
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,300
all set within acres of green space.
555
00:39:30,300 --> 00:39:35,500
Le Corbusier's vision of separating
residential and industrial areas was
556
00:39:35,500 --> 00:39:37,900
carried out to the letter.
557
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:44,500
The coal mines shut down after only
a few years due to flooding,
558
00:39:44,500 --> 00:39:46,700
but the town continued to grow
559
00:39:46,700 --> 00:39:51,900
and became a key location for the
Scottish electronics industry.
560
00:39:53,700 --> 00:39:57,000
It's now home to 50,000 people.
561
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:02,500
And Linda Bagnall has lived here for
most of her life.
562
00:40:03,900 --> 00:40:06,900
What did you think when you first
arrived here as a 12-year-old girl?
563
00:40:06,900 --> 00:40:09,600
Did it feel like you were living in
the future at the time?
564
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:11,400
Oh, I was too young to think about that.
565
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:12,800
I was just wondering where
566
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:18,000
the dancing was going to be that weekend!
567
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,400
Yeah. When you build a community
from scratch,
568
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:23,500
how do you generate a spirit around it?
569
00:40:23,500 --> 00:40:26,500
I believe the people that were
moving into the town,
570
00:40:26,500 --> 00:40:28,900
they were moving into Glenrothes for
a reason.
571
00:40:28,900 --> 00:40:31,300
They were all looking for a new start.
572
00:40:31,300 --> 00:40:36,900
So there was no negativity and that
wore off onto everything.
573
00:40:36,900 --> 00:40:39,600
A lot of new towns are often held up
574
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:41,800
as some of the worst places in the
UK to live -
575
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,800
do you understand that?
576
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:45,800
Having been in some of them, yes.
577
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:47,600
Having been in this one, no.
578
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:49,500
It never applied to Glenrothes.
579
00:40:49,500 --> 00:40:51,900
What do you think sets Glenrothes apart?
580
00:40:51,900 --> 00:40:55,700
I think these early town planners
581
00:40:55,700 --> 00:40:58,500
and architects were innovative thinkers.
582
00:40:58,500 --> 00:41:02,200
For instance, the housing in
Glenrothes is superb.
583
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:04,800
Where there was good views over the town,
584
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:08,000
they put the lounges upstairs and
585
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,600
the kitchen and bedroom areas downstairs,
586
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,300
so they chopped and changed.
587
00:41:12,300 --> 00:41:14,400
They looked at the big picture.
588
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:16,500
How do you feel about the green
spaces in Glenrothes?
589
00:41:16,500 --> 00:41:19,300
I think the green spaces are very important.
590
00:41:19,300 --> 00:41:24,000
Everywhere you go, to Riverside
Park, to Warout Park,
591
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:30,500
to the walkways, to Boblingen Way,
to housing schemes,
592
00:41:30,500 --> 00:41:32,000
it's rich in colour.
593
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,800
And lots of roundabouts that are
also rich in colour!
594
00:41:43,500 --> 00:41:45,300
Driving round Glenrothes,
595
00:41:45,300 --> 00:41:47,500
what strikes you very quickly is
596
00:41:47,500 --> 00:41:51,100
just how well served the town
is by roads.
597
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,100
Transport links were one of the
598
00:41:58,100 --> 00:42:02,100
founding principles of the
new town idea.
599
00:42:03,700 --> 00:42:07,300
It was a vision of the future that
saw the motor car as a symbol of
600
00:42:07,300 --> 00:42:09,800
movement, of freedom.
601
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:13,000
It's easy to see the impact of this
on Glenrothes today.
602
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:15,300
Apparently, there are more
roundabouts here
603
00:42:15,300 --> 00:42:18,300
than in the rest of Fife put together.
604
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:28,600
By the 1950s and '60s, cars had
become kings of the roads,
605
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,700
and a new transport infrastructure
sprang up
606
00:42:31,700 --> 00:42:35,500
throughout our towns and cities to
serve them.
607
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:42,600
This route cuts right across the
heart of the central belt.
608
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:54,000
It's our busiest road,
the M8 motorway.
609
00:42:55,100 --> 00:43:00,100
60 miles long, it connects Edinburgh
in the east, to Glasgow,
610
00:43:00,100 --> 00:43:03,100
and finally Greenock, in the west.
611
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:10,100
One of the reasons for building the
M8 was to ease the terrible traffic
612
00:43:10,100 --> 00:43:13,300
congestion in central Glasgow.
613
00:43:13,300 --> 00:43:16,200
ARCHIVE: Glasgow's roads were not
designed for motorised traffic,
614
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:18,900
they were built for horse-drawn vehicles.
615
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,200
It is not surprising that congestion
of traffic of all kinds,
616
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,100
such as this, could be a daily
occurrence,
617
00:43:27,100 --> 00:43:31,400
causing danger and wasting much time
and energy.
618
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:36,900
By 1956, the average journey speed
in the city
619
00:43:36,900 --> 00:43:40,700
registered little more than
a brisk walk.
620
00:43:43,100 --> 00:43:45,000
The bold solution proposed by
621
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:49,200
Glasgow's all-powerful planners in
the early 1960s
622
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:51,700
was an inner ring road.
623
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,300
Unlike most ring roads, it didn't
bypass the city centre,
624
00:43:56,300 --> 00:43:58,600
it cut right through the middle of it.
625
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:02,600
It was to be Britain's first urban motorway.
626
00:44:05,300 --> 00:44:11,500
Every day, up to 180,000 vehicles
tear along its tarmac.
627
00:44:13,300 --> 00:44:16,400
I'm going to speak to one of its
regular users
628
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,200
to find out what he thinks of it.
629
00:44:22,700 --> 00:44:25,900
So, George, what's it like driving
every day
630
00:44:25,900 --> 00:44:27,800
on Scotland's busiest road?
631
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,400
Well, actually, most of the time
it's all right.
632
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:32,700
It goes right through the centre of town,
633
00:44:32,700 --> 00:44:36,000
which is, I know, a bit controversial,
634
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:40,500
and some might say stupid,
which it is.
635
00:44:40,500 --> 00:44:42,000
But, at the same time,
636
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:43,500
you can get onto the motorway,
637
00:44:43,500 --> 00:44:46,600
and get out of Glasgow very, very quickly.
638
00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:50,500
But, as you can see, even here -
639
00:44:50,500 --> 00:44:54,300
now, this is quarter to six, it's a Thursday,
640
00:44:54,300 --> 00:44:58,000
the schools are off, and this is
what you get.
641
00:44:58,100 --> 00:45:00,500
The whole of the west of Scotland,
642
00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:02,500
and from the east as well,
643
00:45:02,500 --> 00:45:05,300
all end up on this road.
644
00:45:05,300 --> 00:45:07,100
It's incredible when you think about it.
645
00:45:07,100 --> 00:45:08,700
So everybody from the south,
646
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:14,200
everybody from the east, everybody
from the north,
647
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:17,100
all end up on this road.
648
00:45:17,100 --> 00:45:20,000
And then as we go along here, it
goes down to two lanes.
649
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:22,700
So do you have a love/hate
relationship with the road, then?
650
00:45:22,700 --> 00:45:24,800
Yes, I think that's true.
651
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:28,700
I mean, most of the time, as I say,
during the day,
652
00:45:28,700 --> 00:45:31,300
I absolutely love it and I think
it's great.
653
00:45:31,300 --> 00:45:35,100
And then when you get to this time
at night, as you can see,
654
00:45:35,100 --> 00:45:37,800
it's an absolute nightmare.
655
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:40,300
So could you imagine the city
without the road?
656
00:45:40,300 --> 00:45:42,700
Yes, it would have been amazing.
657
00:45:42,700 --> 00:45:46,000
We would have had more tourists than
you wouldn't believe,
658
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:49,100
because although Glasgow,
659
00:45:49,100 --> 00:45:51,100
according to Prince Charles,
660
00:45:51,100 --> 00:45:54,100
is the best-preserved Victorian
city,
661
00:45:54,100 --> 00:45:56,700
if you could imagine what it would
have been like
662
00:45:56,700 --> 00:45:59,000
if they hadn't destroyed
half of it.
663
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,100
Of course, you wouldn't get away
with it nowadays.
664
00:46:01,100 --> 00:46:04,000
I mean, could you imagine them
putting a motorway
665
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,400
through the heart of Edinburgh?
666
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:13,300
Construction of the M8 began in the mid-1960s
667
00:46:13,300 --> 00:46:16,700
and took over 20 years to complete.
668
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,300
The M8 would rip right through the
heart of
669
00:46:23,300 --> 00:46:25,300
thousands of people's homes,
670
00:46:25,300 --> 00:46:29,900
dramatically changing the layout and
look of the city.
671
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,400
It was a time of great trauma...
672
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,000
..even for the dead.
673
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:46,400
Behind this imposing church in
Anderston was a graveyard.
674
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:50,400
It lay right in the path of the new motorway.
675
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:53,400
And so the human remains would have
to be removed.
676
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:57,000
One by one, the dearly departed were disinterred,
677
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:00,400
and taken to Linn Cemetery six miles away.
678
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:03,300
It wasn't a job for the faint-hearted.
679
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:08,500
But it was work which needed to be done
680
00:47:08,500 --> 00:47:11,400
in order to make way for this,
681
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:17,600
the busiest urban crossing in
the UK - the Kingston Bridge.
682
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:21,400
It carries the M8 motorway westwards
over the River Clyde.
683
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:24,100
The construction was a mammoth task,
684
00:47:24,100 --> 00:47:27,300
involving 128 hydraulic jacks
685
00:47:27,300 --> 00:47:30,500
lifting the final parts of the
bridge into place.
686
00:47:30,500 --> 00:47:33,300
It was a world record at the time.
687
00:47:35,100 --> 00:47:38,200
In this aerial shot from 1969,
688
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:43,500
you can see the great concrete spans
before they joined up.
689
00:47:43,500 --> 00:47:45,400
Hailed as an engineering marvel,
690
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:49,400
the bridge opened in June 1970.
691
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:53,400
ARCHIVE: Kingston Bridge, with its
60-foot span, was opened by Queen Elizabeth,
692
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:57,500
the Queen Mother, making her first
visit to Glasgow in five years.
693
00:47:57,500 --> 00:47:59,400
After being greeted by city dignitaries
694
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,100
and performing the official opening
by cutting a tape,
695
00:48:02,100 --> 00:48:05,000
the Queen Mother drove
across the new bridge.
696
00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:12,400
Building the Kingston Bridge was a
huge achievement.
697
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:13,700
But when it was finished,
698
00:48:13,700 --> 00:48:18,500
only half the inner ring road had
actually been completed.
699
00:48:18,500 --> 00:48:20,700
And by the mid-1970s,
700
00:48:20,700 --> 00:48:25,500
public opposition to the other half
was growing louder.
701
00:48:25,500 --> 00:48:30,200
Many Glaswegians were worried about
the inner road network devastating
702
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:34,900
even more homes and communities.
703
00:48:34,900 --> 00:48:39,600
The council abandoned the plan in
the early 1980s.
704
00:48:40,900 --> 00:48:42,800
The incomplete nature of the scheme
705
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,400
explains strange sights like this
one behind me -
706
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:48,500
the never-built junction of the
707
00:48:48,500 --> 00:48:51,300
unrealized southern flank
of the ring road.
708
00:48:51,300 --> 00:48:53,100
It's known locally as the ski jump.
709
00:48:53,100 --> 00:48:55,700
It's not hard to see why.
710
00:48:58,300 --> 00:49:00,900
Despite never being fully finished,
711
00:49:00,900 --> 00:49:03,600
what was built of the
inner ring road system
712
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,900
totally transformed Glasgow.
713
00:49:06,900 --> 00:49:10,000
For car users there were direct benefits.
714
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:15,300
Average speed increased and journey
times through the city shortened.
715
00:49:18,100 --> 00:49:23,000
But for lovers of old architecture,
there was much to complain about.
716
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:28,000
A huge motorway had smashed through
a large chunk of the city,
717
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:30,600
changing it forever.
718
00:49:34,300 --> 00:49:38,000
From the sky, it's clear just how
much of Glasgow's Victorian
719
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,500
architectural heritage has been erased.
720
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:50,800
There was a time when we thought
that cars and roads would come to
721
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,200
dominate the cities of tomorrow.
722
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:59,500
But not now. What we once put on
show, we now want to hide away.
723
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:05,000
One of the proposals is this
striking plan
724
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:10,400
to cover up the Charring Cross
section of the M8 with a city park.
725
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:17,700
It remains to be seen if the
mistakes of the past
726
00:50:17,700 --> 00:50:21,300
are solved by the planners of the future.
727
00:50:25,900 --> 00:50:30,500
Glasgow's post-war experience of
grand urban master plans
728
00:50:30,500 --> 00:50:33,300
has been a very mixed one.
729
00:50:33,300 --> 00:50:35,300
Take high-rise living.
730
00:50:36,300 --> 00:50:38,700
In little more than a generation,
731
00:50:38,700 --> 00:50:41,800
attitudes came full circle.
732
00:50:43,100 --> 00:50:46,200
Tower blocks were heralded as smart solutions
733
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:48,800
to inner-city housing shortages.
734
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:53,300
But just a few decades later, they
became part of the problem,
735
00:50:53,300 --> 00:50:57,700
monuments to social decay and deprivation.
736
00:51:04,900 --> 00:51:07,800
Lives lived high in the Glasgow sky
737
00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:11,300
have been brought crashing back down to earth.
738
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,200
Over time, new buildings are created
739
00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:24,200
to redefine the character of our
urban landscapes.
740
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,500
And our vast collection of aerial photography
741
00:51:30,500 --> 00:51:33,800
continues to record these changes.
742
00:51:34,700 --> 00:51:39,000
Laid out in these pictures from
across the 20th century is a graphic
743
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:44,600
illustration of how our cities never
stay still, whether we plan or not,
744
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:48,300
and they illustrate how the view
from above remains the best way of
745
00:51:48,300 --> 00:51:50,400
tracking change.
746
00:51:55,300 --> 00:51:57,500
This is Dundee.
747
00:52:00,300 --> 00:52:03,400
Of all Scotland's big cities,
748
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:08,400
Dundee is the one currently
experiencing the most rapid change.
749
00:52:09,500 --> 00:52:12,400
It's always been a boom and bust city,
750
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,400
creating boom and bust architecture.
751
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:18,600
And one new structure stands out.
752
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:21,500
It's a building that's still under construction,
753
00:52:21,500 --> 00:52:24,900
and the best view of it is from the River Tay.
754
00:52:38,500 --> 00:52:41,700
When you first glimpse its unusual form,
755
00:52:41,700 --> 00:52:44,700
it's difficult not to be impressed.
756
00:52:49,300 --> 00:52:52,200
Costing a cool £80 million,
757
00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:56,900
it's the new Victoria and Albert
Design Museum.
758
00:52:56,900 --> 00:52:59,900
Just like the pavilions of
Glasgow's Empire Exhibition,
759
00:52:59,900 --> 00:53:01,800
this rather wonderful building is
760
00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:05,300
going to present the best of
Scottish creative brilliance,
761
00:53:05,300 --> 00:53:08,300
alongside cutting edge designs from
around the world.
762
00:53:08,300 --> 00:53:11,700
You get the sense that Thomas Tait
would approve.
763
00:53:19,100 --> 00:53:23,400
The harbour has always been key
to the story of Dundee.
764
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:24,700
Like many cities,
765
00:53:24,700 --> 00:53:28,100
it's where Dundee's fortunes
have risen and fallen
766
00:53:28,100 --> 00:53:31,300
repeatedly over the centuries.
767
00:53:31,300 --> 00:53:33,100
At the start of the 19th century,
768
00:53:33,100 --> 00:53:36,100
a major harbour redevelopment on
reclaimed land,
769
00:53:36,100 --> 00:53:38,600
the work of Thomas Telford,
770
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:41,900
greatly increased the volume of
merchant traffic.
771
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:44,700
By 1912,
772
00:53:44,700 --> 00:53:47,000
Dundee's new harbour areas occupied
773
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:51,700
119 acres of land
reclaimed from the Tay.
774
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:55,900
The Victoria Dock was built to serve the trade
775
00:53:55,900 --> 00:54:00,300
in one of Dundee's biggest products, jute.
776
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:06,700
At the industry's peak,
777
00:54:06,700 --> 00:54:09,600
40% of the city worked with jute,
778
00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:12,400
and there were over 130 mills.
779
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:16,300
Each one boasted a thin,
towering chimney,
780
00:54:16,300 --> 00:54:19,800
signatures of the city's skyline.
781
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:26,500
Fast forward to this photograph
taken in 1942.
782
00:54:27,200 --> 00:54:30,900
The jute industry was in terminal decline.
783
00:54:30,900 --> 00:54:34,900
Undercut by cheaper labour costs in India.
784
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:49,700
The port fell quiet, the buildings
gradually abandoned.
785
00:54:49,700 --> 00:54:51,700
The surrounding area was buried
786
00:54:51,700 --> 00:54:56,500
under a huge expanse of concrete and car parks.
787
00:54:57,300 --> 00:55:01,800
Was the harbour to remain redundant,
lost forever?
788
00:55:02,300 --> 00:55:06,400
For decades, this question remained unanswered.
789
00:55:07,300 --> 00:55:08,900
Until now that is,
790
00:55:08,900 --> 00:55:12,500
because this area is currently
undergoing a £1 billion,
791
00:55:12,500 --> 00:55:14,600
three decade-long redevelopment.
792
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:17,700
A grand experiment in cityscaping
793
00:55:17,700 --> 00:55:20,900
that's unparalleled in modern
Scotland.
794
00:55:26,700 --> 00:55:31,900
The V&A Museum is at the centre of
this new vision for the city.
795
00:55:33,700 --> 00:55:38,700
Its director, Philip Long, thinks
it will turn Dundee into a cultural hub
796
00:55:38,700 --> 00:55:40,900
for generations to come.
797
00:55:40,900 --> 00:55:45,900
I think creativity and the creative
economy is a very important part of
798
00:55:45,900 --> 00:55:47,900
the UK's future. And here in Dundee,
799
00:55:47,900 --> 00:55:52,600
it builds on some of the historical
skills that were here in the city.
800
00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:56,400
The design of the building itself is
about re-emphasising a connection
801
00:55:56,400 --> 00:55:58,000
between the city and the sea.
802
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:02,000
Part of its brief to the architect
was to help make that connection and
803
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:06,900
Kengo Kuma, our architect, does that
wonderfully well.
804
00:56:06,900 --> 00:56:10,700
Dundee's not a large city, 150,000
people or thereabouts,
805
00:56:10,700 --> 00:56:12,600
so I think that when one understands that,
806
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,700
and then the scale of a project like
the waterfront,
807
00:56:15,700 --> 00:56:19,300
with the V&A Dundee at its forefront,
808
00:56:19,300 --> 00:56:22,000
it is really, really impressive.
809
00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:35,200
This is a structure that wants to
transform a whole city
810
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:36,700
through force of will.
811
00:56:36,700 --> 00:56:40,800
Even in its unfinished form, you can
feel its self-confidence.
812
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:42,600
It shouts, "Look at me!"
813
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:46,000
And of course you do, you can't help yourself.
814
00:56:53,700 --> 00:56:55,000
And from the air,
815
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:59,600
you can see how this striking new
building fits into the cityscape -
816
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:05,800
how new and old fit together like a
jigsaw puzzle of the city's history.
817
00:57:13,700 --> 00:57:18,000
If you want to understand the
stories of our cities and towns,
818
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:22,000
there's no better place to be than
in the sky.
819
00:57:24,200 --> 00:57:27,800
It all seemed so obvious from up here.
820
00:57:35,700 --> 00:57:41,300
You can see the proud or crumbling
traces of the past and the present,
821
00:57:41,300 --> 00:57:46,200
you can see cities and towns
changing before your eyes.
822
00:57:47,500 --> 00:57:53,000
And feel the restless need to keep
on remaking themselves.
823
00:57:54,900 --> 00:57:57,200
And you can imagine their futures,
824
00:57:57,200 --> 00:58:02,100
always waiting somewhere over the horizon.
825
00:58:06,500 --> 00:58:09,700
Next time, the fascinating story of
826
00:58:09,700 --> 00:58:14,500
the mysteries uncovered by
pioneering aerial archaeologists.
827
00:58:14,500 --> 00:58:17,500
From hidden Roman camps to a field
828
00:58:17,500 --> 00:58:20,500
where the very concept of time emerged,
829
00:58:20,500 --> 00:58:22,800
how the God's-eye view provides
830
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:27,700
an extraordinary window into our ancient past.
69982
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