When I was younger, Aberdonians always looked at Dundee and somehow thought less of the city just an hour down the road.
There wasn’t much to attract people to the Dundee. It was tired and their local economy seemed to be based on low value industries, encouraging lower paid jobs and not making the city an attractive place.
The Dundee of today could not be more different to the one I remember. The Scottish Affairs committee visited the city to hear about their amazing Waterfront project and what they’re doing to encourage positive investment in their city particularly in the creative and gaming industries.
The City Council in Dundee seems to have a can do attitude. The development, particularly at the Waterfront, is not driven wholly by profitability. They have basically flattened much of what was there before and have spoken to developers about taking on some of the opportunity sites. The real difference, to me, is the attitude from the Local Authority on approaching each of these spaces. The specification is laid down by the council and developers have to fall into line with what the city want.
People in Dundee support the waterfront project. They’re on board. They have taken ownership of the plans. School children throughout all of Dundee’s schools have been involved in promoting and designing the plans.
It could not be a bigger contrast to what has happened in Aberdeen in city planning in the past couple of decades. There have been various attempts here to get the public on board with large city centre regeneration projects, but nothing has galvanised the public in the way that the Dundee Waterfront project has gained support. In the meantime, ad hoc developments have taken place, drawing the public away from our main streets and green spaces.
In Dundee, they have a coherent, comprehensive vision that is widely backed. The city is not feart to be hard headed in supporting these plans, standing up to developers and ensuring at every stage it is their vision that is front and centre, not the vision of those who put short term profitability first.
What is clear to me is that what we are doing currently in Aberdeen is not working. Our city could learn quite a few lessons from Dundee. I couldn’t have imagined thinking that 15 years ago.