Nestled in the heart of Bridgeton, a former industrial district in the East End of Glasgow, is the Glasgow Women’s Library – a unique museum, archive, gallery space, library, and community area dedicated to celebrating and preserving women’s history.
On the ground floor, surrounded by books, twelve women sit round a large oak table for the first Conversation Café of 2026. In front of us are large colourful teapots, mugs, and treats. Delicate flowers sit in four tartan-wrapped jam jars. The women gathered here represent three different Earthly continents–Africa, Asia, and Europe. But as, Deborah, an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Tutor at the library and facilitator of the Conversation Café, reminds us, “you’re all Glaswegian now”.
The theme of the Conversation Café is utopian futures. And what better moment than the new year to dream of a more desirable Glasgow? Utopianism, as we talk about it, is about expressing hope and articulating desires for ways of living better and differently in the future.
We begin with an animated discussion about what we relish about Glasgow, and we are united in finding Glasgow a warm, welcoming city. But, of course, Glasgow is not perfect. And Deborah moves us towards critique (an important part of utopian thinking) with Glaswegians, old and new, asking ourselves how we might imagine a better future for Glasgow. We share initial reflections with each other before drawing new crests for Glasgow that encapsulate what we want for the city. In what follows I share five different desires that emerged around our table.
Give Abandoned Sites Purpose
Glasgow has the highest proportion of residents living near derelict land in all of Scotland. Buddleia grows freely from abandoned buildings, and some lots sit empty and fenced off, with rubble the only sign of former use. It is perhaps unsurprising then that one vision for Glasgow concerns buildings. “There are so many abandoned buildings”, says a young woman, it “hurts to see them”. “I would give them a function”, she says. Buildings are more than just bricks and mortar. We feel emotional connection towards the physical buildings that make up our cities, and loss when they are neglected. And she is not alone in wanting to give purpose to abandoned buildings; her words echo the sentiments expressed by so many other Glaswegians I have met. In my research, locals have spoken to me about the “heartbreak” they feel when they walk down once thriving streets in the city centre, and part of utopian thinking for Glasgow surely lies in reimagining a future for these buildings.
Let the Clyde Flourish
Conversation soon turns to another central part of the city: the River Clyde. One woman asks the table, “what do you think of the river? Do you notice it?” Her question speaks to the neglected position the river holds in the city. Once the life blood of Glasgow’s industrial past, the Clyde bisects the city, but is somehow a river apart from its people. For this woman, the Clyde is under-used and inaccessible. She asks us to think of London and Paris and the thriving life that happens on the banks of the Thames and Seine. In her utopian Glasgow, residents would have a bustling life on the river. “I would want passenger ferries. I would want wee boats”, she says, and cafes too. She is not alone in wanting more for the Clyde, and her sentiment chimes with the podcast project ‘Who Owns the Clyde?’ which explores potential futures for the river.
Create a Sunnier Glasgow
For one woman, Glasgow has been her home for several years since leaving Sudan. The personality of Glasgow is all warmth, she says, but it could do with more sunshine. She speaks of the negative impact of a dreich (Scots for dreary) climate and a lack of vitamin D on her darker skin. While we can’t create a future with more sunshine (terrifying visions of climate change aside), underlying this wish is the desire for flourishing, and her comments about health have particular significance for a city whose detrimental health outcomes have led to the coining of a so-called “Glasgow effect”. The important question for a better Glaswegian future might be how can we change Glaswegian built and social infrastructure so that it feels like a bright summer day even when it is dreich outside? How might we create a society that enables people to thrive in the cold, dark winter months in more enjoyable and healthy ways?
Better Connection
One shared desire is for free (or cheaper), safe, and reliable public transport networks. One woman’s motto, “let Glasgow connect easily” builds on the motto “Let Glasgow Flourish” but centres connections, and encapsulates a desire for having opportunities for conversation, easy access to information, and places to make friends – all of which should be free and operate on a drop-in basis. One woman, a young student, describes how she had got rid of her car to save money but is now spending more in a month on bus fares than she did on petrol. There are glimmers of these more-connected futures, and not only inside the walls of the Glasgow Women’s Library. In February 2026, Glasgow City Council launched a pilot providing 1,000 residents with free, unlimited bus, train, and Subway travel for seven weeks. This is utopianism in practice, with the pilot testing an alternative idea for how transport could work in Glasgow’s future.
Let’s Live Alongside Trees
Trees are the centre of one discussion, with one woman saddened by the exclusion of trees from urban space. “Glasgow has trees”, she said, “but you have to go to a park to find them”. She wonders: why can’t trees be better integrated within the city? In her new crest for Glasgow, she depicts trees, flowers, apples, rain, and pleasant, warm buildings. Her Glasgow is united through the senses, captured in the motto “smell it, see it, taste it, hear it, feel it!” Her imagined Glasgow is a place where you might walk through open markets and be greeted with the scents of fresh produce. Her city would not consign plants and trees to dedicated park spaces but would ensure trees were proper residents of every bit of the city and would mark every bit of your walk as you move around the city. Her vision brought back a memory for one woman who remembered a time when George’s Square was a greener, more public space, and there were boxes of hyacinths spreading their heady, floral scent across the square. In another glimmer of this future, today, George’s Square is undergoing regeneration to revitalise the square as a greener space for congregation.
What Matters for Glasgow’s Future?
Underlying so many of these visions for Glasgow is a desire for what Eric Klinenberg calls ‘social infrastructure’, a term that describes places where people congregate and interact. Social infrastructure looks like buses, libraries, parks, playgrounds, cafes, pubs, walkways, cycle paths, or community centres. It is any public place where you don’t feel rushed, where you can interact. Nowhere was the expression of this desire clearer than in one woman’s wish for a city where people meet, dance, and laugh in public spaces. Earlier in our conversation, this new Glaswegian talked of her bus journey to work, where her fellow commuters ask after her, know her name, and form a community of sorts. These connections, according to Klinenberg, build strong, resilient communities so that when dangerous events happen like the COVID-19 pandemic or destructive storms like Storm Éowyn hit Glasgow, fewer people struggle, and death rates are reduced.
So, what did we learn about hopes for Glasgow’s future? The Conversation Café impressed on me how vital it is to know not only what people want for the future, but to take seriously those utopian desires. Our wishes are information that can guide how we move forward because, as Ruth Levitas argues, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish’.
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