As with many of Glasgow’s post-industrial areas, Dennistoun has had to adapt to changes in the Glasgow’s global role, from engine room and “second city” of Empire, through economic and social decline and being tagged “sick man of Europe” to an uncertain present of mixed fortunes. The gains of regeneration and the city’s global repositioning and reinvention as a service-led economy have not been distributed equally across the city’s inhabitants.

Not measurable through routinely collected health and wellbeing data is the growth of community assets in the area; particular an emergent cluster of community-facing arts and voluntary projects. This is added to by the visible rejuvenation of Duke Street which now features characteristics of successful urban areas such as cafes, coffee shops, hairdressers and general stores- perhaps experiencing a new lease of life following the closure of a large supermarket. The area’s cluster of arts –based organisations include Impact Arts; Market Gallery; The Young Gallery; The Wasps artist community on Hanson Street and the David Dale Gallery (Bridgeton).

For some residents, these community resources will have made Dennistoun a ‘better’ place to live, increased social capital and opportunities for social participation. A new narrative of Dennistoun, as a creative, socially connected and resilient place has emerged in recent years. This narrative has not been imagined and enacted by urban planners or regeneration specialists but by clusters of community “visionaries”. Its example offers learning for other areas in the city where the limits of top-down regeneration appear to have been reached

Existing representations
A review and synthesis of existing representations of Dennistoun’s and Glasgow’s wider East End is under way. Through both written and filmic sources, the researchers have established 8 ‘typical’ ways in which Glasgow and its East End have been represented (see blog post). The project team will use these existing representations as a means of engaging and encouraging new imaginings of place as the work progresses.