THE bulldozers hae been at wark aroon Scotland, the wreckin baa swingin, dingin doon auld flats, makkin space fir new biggins like space ships tae laun on tap o whit aince wis schemes.
The Chris Hoy velodrome, the destruction o the Red Road flats, the dingin doon o auld scuils an their replacement wi pish PFI plywood new biggins wi nae stories, the sinderin apairt o strang communities tae mak wey fir invasions o capital an middle-class initiatives.
Nou it’s Dundee’s turn. Hail sections o the toun hae been brocht doun tae the dirt, the fowk skelped on the dowp an hunted oot their ain neighbourhoods. The muckle multis that aince dominatit an tae a lairge extent defined oor Dundee skyline are awa, as are the thoosans that bade there.
The crowning achievement of this capital redevelopment of Dundee is the waterfront, the jewel in which is the Victoria and Albert Museum, open next week.
Dundee wis in sair need o a redd-up, I’ll no deny it.
Growin up in the ootside o whit wad be the last-act o auld Dundee wis some spectacle. Ye’d ging intae the toun an see naethin but gubbed concrete shoppin centres wi hunners o auld bauchles sprauchlin aboot in the grim grey smirr, fags lit. Smog-like clouds o doos fleein an keichin aawey, bairns greetin at their saxteen-year-auld maws. I hear the Soviet Union yaised Dundee as a warnin o whit capitalism will dae tae a people.
Ae nicht saw ma teenage sel daunderin throu ane o the toun’s unnerpasses, ablow the marketgait, whan a hameless cheil speirt us fir a fag. Bein fifteen, I had ma rolly-up fags ready, an gied him ane. Whan I pit it in his haun, his ither haun grabbed us by the wrist. He pulled oot a clarty wee heroin needle. “Gie us a tenner, or I’ll jag ye wi this” he says.
I didnae hae a tenner. Sae he demanded I buy him a beer. Obviously fleggit, I let this hameless bampot guide us tae the nearest howff, an bocht him an masel a pint. The five minutes I spent sat wi this pishy-breeked, wild-ee’d tunnel mannie afore I fleed awa oot the door an up the street were lang minutes indeed.
The unnerpass, the howff an maistly likely the puir craiter wi the needle are aa awa nou. The famous multis are ghaists in the collective mindin o Dundee, the howffs whaur a hameless cheil wi a needle can sit haein a sup wi a fifteen-year-auld laddie are lang awa.
But whit’s left, an whit’s beeen brocht in tae replace it? As thae multistorey multitudes that aince gied Dundee its distinct warkin-class character are dispersed on the wind like the reek fae a deein ingle, whit does Dundee loss, an whit does it gain?
Weel, it gains nae just ae braw new museum, but twa. The V&A doun bi the watter is certainly the kenspeckle pairt o the development. But alang wi it has been the dichtin-doun an reopenin o the McManus Galleries. This bonnie biggin fae the eichteen hunners hauds fine collections tae dae wi Dundonian whalin, journalism an the like, an serves as a guid introduction tae the history o the community.
Dundee gains an international dey in the sun anaa. GQ claimed in 2015 that Dundee is on the richt gait tae becomin Britain’s coolest little city. The Wall Street Journal cried it a “worldwide hot destination”. Fowk’s perceptions o the toun in Scotland are negative, wit the tag “Scumdee” still thirlt tae the nemme. But wi regular positive stories this will change.
But alang wi these pickle positives comes a wheen neutral an a guid skelp o negative impacts.
Whit will puir fowk eat? The centre nae lang syne wis fu o cafes an bakeries whaur wifies gied ye a decent plate o scran fir a couple quid. £1 mince rolls or affordable punnets o stovies abounded. Nou there’s twa “Mexican street food” shoppies whaur ye can eat flavourless takeaway burritos fir a tenner a pop.
Whaur will puir fowk bide? Dundee has aye been a haven fir airtists an warkers as the rent wis dead low. Nou hoose prices in Dundee are risin at mair nor twice the rate o ony ither airt in Scotland. Thirteen thoosan pund has been pit on the average cost o ilka hoose in the area, wi aince studenty areas nou bein carvit up bi yuppies an investors.
The Yes City is a totty wee place, an it wilnae tak lang fir tae replace aa the Dundonians an Dundonian enterprises wi globalised chain shops an restaurants, Air BnBs fir fowk wi siller wantin tae visit the V&A an howffs whaur a pint costs mair than a fiver.
The essential spirit o the place is its thrawn warkin-classness, its independent mind, its humour, the dialect o Scots whaur “aye”, “I” an “ee” aa becom “eh”. This wis aa formed whan the dozens o different nationalities wha biggit Dundee in its factories, docks, fairms bade thegither in the toun, wi the siller bidin just up the Firth o the Tay at Broughty Ferry.
The solidarity an socialism sae noticeable in Dundee will be smoored, as the puir fowk hae tae bide in a suburban doughnut aroon the edges o the toun, ainly comin thegither tae serve wealthy inhabitants in badly-peyed service industry wark.
Will there be onythin left o Dundee worth the keepin efter it essentially is turned in tae a crossowre atween a posh bit o Embra and Anyhere USA?
There’s a gey sair need tae dae somethin tae impruive the infrastructure. But seein Dundee’s culture pit in tae glass kists in museums fir wealthy incomers tae gawp owre as the fowk theirsels are shunted oot tae mak wey seems an unco wey tae impruive a toun.
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