Glasgow Dreams
by Charlie Tims
1. Glasgow 2020 is the child of Scotland 2020. Scotland 2020 argued that Scotland is gripped by a sense of fatalistic pessimism where the future has become something that happens to people rather than something they can play an active role in shaping. It argued that this permeated everything from family life to the highest levels of political decision making in the country. It suggested that this had become a bulwark to Scotland�s future development. In order to combat this, Scotland 2020 argued that Scotland required an imagination exercise focussed on the future as, if you can�t imagine the future, how can you hope to effect it? However, it went on to argue that this couldn�t happen behind closed doors in marketing departments and boardrooms, but would have to be an exercise that started and finished with the public. Only then would it be legitimate. It also claimed that if it was to be this public exercise it would have to be literate in different forms of discussion (the Scotland 2020 collection, picked up on fictional narrative). Glasgow 2020 is this project in one city.
2. Glasgow 2020 aims to reverse the way consultation happens. When we engage with the future it�s normally a very passive experience. Typically we tend to get consulted on plans that have already been established (a pub extending its license, a new building proposed down the road and so on). Glasgow aims to reverse the consultation paradigm by taking a publicly generated vision of the future to civic leaders, rather than the other way round.
3. Glasgow 2020 has a brilliant website (live later today). You can post stories about the future, read wishes, find out about forthcoming and past events and collect resources for carrying out your own Glasgow 2020 project. It�s still in the final stages of construction, but you can see a 75% functioning version, here.
4. Glasgow 2020 is supporting a project to collect together wishes for 2020 across the city. Celebrities and public figures are submitting theirs through the newspaper, everyone else can submit theirs through the website and on freepost postcards, distributed around the city. On the website and through some deliberative events we will be selecting the top-ten wishes to take forward at the end of the year.
5. Glasgow 2020 literally sets sail tomorrow. We are running an event called �Work on Water� which is basically a shared office space on a boat, which we have made available to anyone who works in an office in the city. There will be an event about the future of work in the evening. You can still register your attendence.