r/Glasgow Tools

The fundamental reason for the collapse of inner city retail was the widespread construction of out of town shopping malls, in the American model. Places which cater specifically for... people in cars.

City centres themselves, in a vain, futile attempt to compete, also followed the car-first model, providing thousands of car parking spaces, and trading pedestrian (or even cycle space) for road space catering to motor vehicles.

This legacy of car centrism has hollowed out our cities. People don't want to walk and shop on a busy road chock full of HGVs and cars. Evidently! That's why they choose to walk down entirely pedestrianised malls like Silverburn, the Fort, Braehead, etc. If cars parked inside Braehead ,or drove down the main concourse like they do across the city centre, you'd see how quickly this affects the appeal of it as a destination for visitors.

Glasgow and many many other cities have realised (quite late in the day) that they're fighting a losing battle trying to cater for car owners alone. In fact, it's entirely detrimental, not just in environmental terms, but in terms of pure land space you devote to visitors.

A single car space (likely used by one driver) could house 2 tables for a restaurant, or a parking bay for 10 cyclists, or a free space for potential customers to walk around.

Long rant, but the point is that the town is in the situation it is (boarded up shops, low customer base) precisely because of the car centric planning of the late 20th century.