The Riverfront - Getting There Is the Hard Part

Like Portland, Glasgow’s city center is bisected by a working river. It used to be said that “the Clyde made Glasgow and Glasgow made the Clyde,” but the mighty shipbuilding industry never recovered from the Great Depression–even with some renewed activity during World War II. Today, only one shipbuilder remains and the city is in the midst of a decade-long effort to convert vast swaths of empty waterfront property into business and residential hubs.

 

One part of the redevelopment is the Riverside Museum of Transportation, a cavernous building designed by Zaha Hadid and named the European museum of the year in 2013. It’s crammed full of examples of just about every 19th to 21st century human conveyance, from horse-drawn carriages to early automobiles to prams, locomotives, model ships, and skateboards. The world’s oldest pedal-powered bicycle is on display along with more modern bikes and cycles that are notable for their owners’ journeys (like Ewan McGregor’s BMW featured in the documentary series “The Long Way Round”). World War I wheelchairs made of wood and leather to look like parlor furniture are a reminder that those confined to them weren’t expected to leave the house, though a 1970s, three-wheeled “invalid car” shows how attitudes about mobility changed. One thing that hasn’t undergone much of a transformation: Glasgow’s subway system. A 1900 rail car looks like it would be very much at home as part of the “Clockwork Orange,” today’s inner city transit system that runs two short circular lines that continually go either clockwise and counterclockwise, taking you from one side of the city to another in about 12 minutes). With massive apartment towers, the Norman Foster-designed convention center (called The Armadillo), and the new BBC Scotland headquarters, the city hopes to breathe life into the banks of the Clyde again.