Nicer Than George Square

We live in Glasgow, and George Square makes us sad. It's run-down, half-empty and covered in nasty red tarmac. Luckily, the Council plans to refurbish it. That's why we've started this blog. We want pictures of other city centres which are Nicer Than George Square. We hope they will inspire the council to make a city square that will make us, and you, happy. Send us pictures of city squares that you love, and we'll post them here.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

We know lots of people have been sceptical about the idea of fountains in George Square. But this picture of Leeds suggests they can work well in British cities. What do you think?

Source: www.leeds.ac.uk

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

If nobody gets what they want, does that mean we all win?

The abandonment of the George Square redesign has been reported as a victory for people power. And it is, to an extent. Lots of people said they didn’t think much of the six shortlisted designs for the square, or the Council’s vision for its future, and so they were dumped.

Instead, the square will now get a “facelift”. The red tarmac will go, thankfully. There might be a bit more grass. The statues will stay. It will still be a big empty space in the middle of a chock-full city. And on Glasgow’s rare sunny days, George Square will echo with the sound of missed opportunity.

It didn’t need to be like this. The Council - let’s face it, the Council leader, who seems to have led this project single-handedly - has forced people into opposing proposals they were never consulted on, in order to protect what little we have. We should have had a bottom-up consultation process, with researchers spending time in George Square asking people how they’d like to see it change. Then they could have come up with a draft design brief. Maybe they could even have asked students at the Art School to create the brief. And once we’d all had a chance to comment on that, we could have launched a competition that was truly owned by the people of Glasgow.

Because what we’ve got now is a fudge. A very sulky-sounding Council spokesperson has commented “People don’t want a substantial redesign of the square”.

And lots of people don’t. But actually, we do. We’d love to see George Square reborn, with innovative, breathtaking design shaped around the lives, needs and desires of the people who use it. We think lots of other people might, too. What nobody except Gordon Matheson wants is a rushed, undemocratic compromise between a public square and an events venue, chosen by a bunch of architects and marketers.

Gordon Matheson has thrown away the opportunity to transform our city’s heart. It won’t come again for a generation: who in their right mind would now propose any change to the square?

From such bold beginnings, the best we can now hope for is a slightly nicer George Square. We’d hoped for so much more.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

We’re loving this combination of trees, boulders and paving. Feels fresh. Read more about this interesting outdoor space at Interiorzine.com.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Hard to be happy about George Square refurbishment

This blog is all about positivity. We hated George Square, but we didn’t want just to whinge about it. So we created Nicer Than George Square, and we posted pictures of city centres that we loved. Then lots of other people sent us photos of town squares that they loved, and we posted those too. We hoped to inspire the Council as it set about fulfilling its promise to refurbish our own George Square.

So we are reluctant to be negative about the six shortlisted designs for the square. It’s too easy to glance at them all and harrumph “Rubbish!” Where does that get us? Nowhere except where we already are - a grand city with a miserable town square. 

It’s true that the designs are unlikely to take your breath away. But they have sparked passionate debate, both in the media and on the street. When we visited the Lighthouse today to view them, we were amazed to find it packed with people scrutinising the designs and filling in their feedback forms. Colleagues, friends and social media contacts have all been wrangling over the proposals today, and there’s even going to be a protest against them.

For what it’s worth, we liked design number six best. But that’s not really what’s preoccupying us. Instead, we’re full of concern that Glasgow is about to chuck away a fantastic opportunity to really listen to its citizens. 

Here’s why. The judging panel will choose a winning design on 18th January. That’s a week away. The designs have only been on display since yesterday. The only people who’d previously had any input were the 42 residents who were mysteriously selected to give their views on what the square should look like and the judging panel itself, which whittled down the original 35 entries.

At the Lighthouse today, the comments box contained at least a hundred completed forms, with feedback on the designs, and we also saw many people filling in the online survey. The sketches are on display at the Lighthouse all next week.

So when are the comment forms going to be typed up and given to the judging panel? When will they have time to scrutinise the results of the online survey? And why, since we're asking questions, is the panel made up entirely of architects, the leader of the Council and a concert promoter? Where are the citizens, or at least ordinary councillors?

We don’t like to be negative. But we think the Council is going about this all wrong. Once they’d shortlisted their six designs, they should have put the whole issue to a public vote. Why can’t we choose our own design? Who better than the people of Glasgow to decide what would be Nicer Than George Square?

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Here's another design from the abandoned 2006 design competition for George Square. Studio KAP came up with a cafe at the heart of the square, with re-routed traffic, new paving and a better link with Queen Street station.

It still looks a bit empty to us, but much more elegant than the current square. What do you think?

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

There's been much discussion lately about the architects who have submitted designs for George Square. But it seems there was a previous competition for the square that was abandoned at the judging stage. So we thought we'd take a look at some previous possible George Squares. This idea was developed by Richard Murphy Architects and imagined an eighty-seat cafe stretching down the Western edge, incorporating the existing statues.

Is this nicer than George Square? We think so.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Council paper on George Square redevelopment

As highlighted over on Restore George Square, the council papers relating to the George Square redevelopment have just been published. 

Disarmingly, the business paper admits,

"Like most post industrial cities of the late twentieth century, the pressures applied to the use of public spaces are significant, and it [the square] has been compromised to such an extent that its loss of status and dignity is all too apparent".

So far, so accurate. So how can we put this right? The paper goes on to set out objectives for the new square. It needs to celebrate creativity, create an environment in which people can socialise day and night, provide a venue for organised activities and create a world class tourist destination.

Which sounds brilliant: possibly a bit ambitious for £15 million? But we can't knock them for ambition. What we can knock is the consultation process, phase 1 of which will be complete by early September - ie now - and consists of resident focus groups and key stakeholder interviews. Who are "key stakeholders"? Your guess is as good as ours.

Phase 1 of the redesign will include the removal, possibly on a temporary basis, of the statues, the replacement (hallelujah) of the red tarmac and the possible addition of a water feature. This will use up £5m of the total budget and be completed before 2014.

While this is going on, we, the public, will be asked for our views on a shortlist of submissions received in response to a design competition. 

There is a detailed design brief included in the papers which has been created without any public input that we know of. Design firms will respond to this brief, and the public will only get the chance to vote on the shortlisted entries that the Council chooses to display.

We had high hopes that this project could be a truly collaborative one that drew on the talents and contributions of all of its citizens. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. So we can only hope that the entries to the competition are truly world class.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Robb McRae has been in touch to say "You've probably seen London's Exhibition Rd - but an idea to 'expand' George Square to the perimeter buildings?"

Exhibition Road looks like an interesting project - describing itself as "the cultural heartland of London", it's a hub for many different arts, academic and cultural centres. Just redeveloped as part of a £28m project, does it offer any lessons for Glasgow?

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Recently, we took a trip to Helensburgh, a pretty but slightly faded town near to Glasgow. As ever, we were on the alert for an interesting town square: this photo shows Helensburgh's Colquhoun Square. We were fascinated to see a nearby notice, announcing a referendum on how to develop the square. 

Turns out that a £6.3 million redevelopment of the town centre is on the cards. The council held what it describes as an "informal referendum" on three possible designs and has promised to follow through with the most popular one. 

Is this an approach you'd like to see taken by Glasgow City Council?

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Here's a cool wee square in Puigcerdà, Northern Spain.

We quite like the interesting geometric shapes and the lighting.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

From the traditional beauty of Antwerp we leap to the relentless modernity of Shibuya, Tokyo. This 1964 Olympic host city is full of technology, neon and bustle: a far cry from our own George Square, but something we could learn from?

Photo from wikipedia

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

We continue our tour of Olympic cities with a trip to Antwerp, which hosted the event in 1920. Its Grote Markt, or Market Square, is strikingly attractive which intricate buildings which remind us of the House of Lords. It's surrounded by the town hall, cathedral and the buildings of the local guilds. Astonishingly beautiful, but probably not something we could create from scratch in Glasgow!

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Today we are in Stockholm, which hosted the Olympics in 1912. Its oldest city square is Stortorget, which translates as the Great Square. It has a huge Christmas market and is generally packed with tourists - but is it Nicer than George Square? Or a little bit empty?

Photo from to-life.se

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

In 1904, the Olympics were held in St Louis, Missouri. We haven't been there, so correct us if we're wrong but it doesn't really seem to have a main square. However, it does have Kingsbury Place, a private neighbourhood that was designated a city landmark in 1973. It's beautiful and peaceful - but could it cope with the hubbub and bustle of George Square?

Photo from Wikipedia

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

Continuing our series of Olympic cities, this is Place de la Concorde in Paris. Its symmetry and elegance far surpasses George Square's, but it's a little too formal for us - where would we put the playpark??

Photo from PlacesinParis.com.

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

After Friday night's launch, there is only one Olympic city that we could post a picture of today. This is London’s Trafalgar Square, taken from the viewpoint of the fountain. Trafalgar Square goes for regal elegance rather than a community focus, so perhaps not the approach that we’d like for George Square, but it’s undeniably beautiful. 

Photo by Helen Dixon Photography

[nicerthangeorgesquare]

In honour of the Olympics getting underway in Glasgow, we've decided to post a series of photos from other cities that have hosted the summer Olympics. We're kicking off with Athens, which hosted in 1896, 1906 and 2004. The two main squares are Omonoia Square  and Constitution Square - neither of which are particularly gorgeous, but we've gone with this pic of Constitution Square.

We like the simplicity but think it might be a bit drab - what do you think?

Photo from Djibnet.com