If you want me, I’ll be in Magpie’s Nest, and if you ask nicely I’ll take you across the road to the Pearce Institute for a plate of chips as big as ships before we take a wander along to the new bridge. Look at that view across to the museum; you’ve got to love it. And you’ve got to admit: there’s a bit of a transformative feeling going on in Govan right now that could be good for all of us.

Quick catch-up if you’re not local. Magpie’s Nest is the best vintage shop in Glasgow (don’t argue); you always find something good on the bookshelves and you’ll probably end up going home with some of their cups and plates and other bits and pieces too. The Pearce Institute (as in William Pearce the shipbuilder) is the community building that does big lunches and mugs of tea. And the bridge you know about: it’s the new footbridge connecting Govan and Partick that’s helped to change the look and buzz and feel of this part of the city. I want to talk about it, and some of the other things going on, because they are signs of hope; they are ideas we can use.

There are still issues of course. I was in Elder Park the other day looking at Fairfield farm, or what’s left of it. It’s the oldest building in Govan, 18th century and a dairy farm until the ‘20s, but it’s in some state. As far as I could see – and I couldn’t get close because of the security fencing – the roof is not long for this world and the grounds are in a terrible way: rubble, litter, the ubiquitous shopping trolleys, and bits of luminous graffiti: Rangers, Ogre, BRS Crew, G51 Rule It.

But Elder Park is, in other ways, one of the signs of hope. The library on the edge of the park has just reopened after a fine restoration (I’m writing this at an old desk that once sat in the library which I saved from the skip). The formal entrance to the park, including the stone pillars, fencing and cast-iron lamps, has also been restored and is looking very good indeed and this kind of stuff matters: Isabella Elder gave the park to the city in memory of her husband John Elder (shipbuilding again of course) for “healthful recreation” and it’s still doing it 100-plus years on.

Taken all together, the park, the bridge, the shops are a good indication of how thoughtful restoration, regeneration and protection can work. Part of it is about aesthetics: the front of Magpie’s Nest and other shops in the area have been given a makeover that’s improved the scrappy mess they’d become, with money coming from the local council and the national lottery. What happens then is the opposite of the broken-window theory where everything gets worse: the shops look great so everything around starts to improve as well. Thanks to the bridge, visitors to the transport museum have also been coming across and having a wander about and longer term, students and others will come across and live here too.

Which brings us to housing, the other key to all of this. You may have seen the new flats at the southern end of the bridge, which have been deliberately priced for an area where the vast majority of people live in social housing; the same for the other new flats at the back of Magpie’s Nest. What they seem to prove is that, after the mistakes of the 80s and 90s, the planners have finally got the architecture and design right: no more white rendering that can’t stand the Glasgow rain; instead we have brown brick and grey metal which will age better. They look good and will keep looking good.

Read more

Which one are you: the hater or the hated? It’s time for a rethink

Another idea of the Scottish Greens goes up in smoke. Happy days

But flats and houses are not enough, not nearly: you’ve got to get the mix right, between development and protection, between brown and green, and Govan is starting to, based on some of the principles of the past. As I said, Elder Park was laid out for healthful recreation and the park has recently been the focus of more tree planting. The council’s also planning to expand the scheme outwards and plant more trees across Govan and other parts of the city that aren’t as leafy as they could be and should be. Isabella Elder would like it.

A bit further along the river, the newly announced plans for the Govan docks are along similar lines. If you’ve been down there recently, you’ll know they’re in a sorry state – they’ve been derelict since the 80s – but plans for about 300 new homes are currently going through planning. Crucially, the plans also include parkland and green space, and if it works out it’ll be the right balance between what the locals want, which is a place that improves the area, and what the developers want, which are buildings that make them some money which is fair enough.

Obviously, there are concerns about gentrification and in some parts of Govan closer to the BBC the flats and houses are pretty expensive. But the key to the regeneration of the area is balance and there are real signs Govan is getting it right: housing at a mix of prices and rent, regeneration of what’s there, and good infrastructure that links the area to other parts of the city. I don’t know why it’s taken us so long to get it: our city-on-the-river needs bridges.

(Image: Fairfield farm)

And the bigger point is that it could be good for all of us. Obviously, the biggest effect is felt by the locals, who get better parks and a better place to live. Someone from the council told me recently that the area of Glasgow with the least visitors to the transport museum was Govan even though lots of Govanites could see the museum from their living room windows. Now they are properly close to it and can stroll across to visit. I’ve seen groups of schoolkids doing it.

But an equally important point is that there could be an effect on the rest of us too. The other thing I’ve noticed is people walking and cycling across to Govan from the north side of the river and they’ve been stopping at Rhubarb and Honey, the café on the corner, and taking a look in Magpie’s Nest and all the rest of it. Glasgow likes to think it isn’t but it’s divided by class and money like every other city and the regeneration of Govan, with the bridge at its heart, is mixing communities in a way that wasn’t happening even last year.

Crucially, it’s an effect we could repeat in other parts of Glasgow if we wanted to because we know that mixed communities work best and every new development should look at the basics of Govan’s growing success and seek to repeat them. Housing that’s designed well for the Scottish climate and is a good mix of affordable and more expensive. Developments that include parks and green space because: green is good for you (God bless Isabella Elder). Development of the assets that are there already such as shops and old buildings, with an eye on aesthetics because nice breeds nice. And infrastructure that links people to other places: bridges, bridges, bridges. I suppose what I'm saying is, if you haven’t already, get yourself down there and see for yourself. The thought might occur to you: where else could this work?