However, Glasgow soon began to face many problems.
Glasgow relied heavily on the World economy, to buy and sell goods, and the moment the World economy slipped (great depression 1929) many businesses closed. This lead to all sorts of declines in industry, especially heavy industry, such as ship building, which moved elsewhere where the labour was cheaper, and profits greater.
Living conditions were declining at a very high rate. Terraced housing was literally decaying, and people were hugely overcrowded. These poor living conditions led to other problems, for example, social problems, such as Crime, drugs, alcohol, unemployment, racism, prostitution and a decrease in the amount of people. There were high levels of disease and illnesses because of the overcrowding, and poor policing led to a large amount of crime, and poor community relations. There was also a lot of pollution. This included Air, land and water polluting, derelict warehouses and churches, high levels of graffiti, and also a large amount of traffic congestion. Some houses were in such a poor state, that they fell down with people living in them, resulting in a number of tragic deaths.
The city had rapidly fallen into a state of ‘inner city decay.’
The first step taken by the Councils was to carry out Comprehensive Redevelopment. This means demolishing and rebuilding slums. Many slums were removed from areas such as Gorbals, and roads new roads were also built to improve transport links. To re-house all of the people made homeless from the demolishing of the slums, many cheap tower blocks were erected for people to live in. However these came with their own set of new problems.
They were put up very rapidly, and so they were very badly built. They soon became damp, and walls started to crumble, and furniture became ruined, and people ill. In extreme cases, the walls had completely disintegrated. Families were also split up, or fragmented as a result of the relocations. The tower blocks were also ugly, and it caused people, especially children to become housebound, as it was very impractical for youngsters to go down to the bottom of a tower block on their own to play. The tower blocks also brought with them crime, as they are extremely hard to police.
This city was losing people rapidly, at rates of 25 000 per year due to the unbearable conditions.
The next step taken is known as Renovation. This meant rather than demolishing slums, repairing them. This was a minor improvement, and living conditions improved slightly, and employment was provided. Factory work was available, producing small-scale lighting.
After this, the councils adopted urban regeneration. This was a considerable improvement. A development corporation was formed, and modern tenements were built for people to live in Gorbals, and the population in this area was reduced from 90 000 to 9 000, meaning that there was much less of a problem with overcrowding.
Derelict land (Brownfield sites) was used to build flats, cinemas complexes (e.g. The Quay) and industry. The CBD was renovated, with the building of the St Enoch Shopping Centre, restaurants, and pedestrianisatioin. Tax incentives were induced to attract people; for example, they offered things such as no tax for 3 years. Green belt laws were also introduced, to prevent the city from expanding, and this led to new small towns cropping up around Glasgow, for example, Livingston. These laws prevent sprawling, but allow leisure and farming. This was quite a success in improving the conditions in Glasgow, and now there is much less of a problem with poor housing, crime, and lack of services, although the problem still remains.