History of Glasgow

ily arrested the ongoing decline, the period after the war saw the greatest decline in its industrial base. Although ships and trains were still being built on Clydeside (as of today, only three major shipyards remain on the River Clyde, two of which are owned by BAE Systems Naval Ships), cheap labour abroad reduced the competitiveness of Glasgow's industries. By the 1960s, Glasgow had gone into economic decline and Glasgow's function as a port diminished with the introduction of containerized freight.

Facing a future without the dominant heavy industries which had brought it much wealth in the past, the city began to depopulate the overcrowded centre, dispersing the population to outer areas and new towns and building new motorways in order to allow a new service based economy to flourish. The infamous tenement slums (many of which had been destroyed or badly damaged by wartime bombs) were replaced by a new generation of high rise housing and large suburban housing estates (known locally as "schemes"). Whilst the hundreds of new tower blocks changed the city's skyline forever, the high rise edifices broke up long established community relationships and social structures. Coupled to poor design and low quality construction, some of the blocks created as many problems as they solved and became magnets for crime and deprivation.

Since the 1980s, Glasgow has been rebuilding both its image and its architecture, with extensive efforts to clean and refurbish surviving tenement flats, redeveloping the western end of the central area into a financial district and hosting renowned festivals. Glasgow was named European City of Culture in 1990, followed by City of Architecture and Design in 1999 and European Capital of Sport in 2003. Glasgow now boasts the largest contemporary arts scene in the UK outside of London, which is centred around the annual 'Glasgow International' arts festival