If you're prepared to sit down and read through A Highway Plan for Glasgow long enough (or, of course, if you just flick through it until you see pictures) you will eventually arrive at a whole chapter of pictures that demonstrate better than anything else what Glasgow was trying to create. At least two were created by Alexander Duncan Bell, a noted Scottish artist.
In this section the pictures are simply presented with the accompanying text from the original document. The real treat has been saved for the end. A lot of the descriptions the consultants provided are written in an overblown, utopian style - but it's important to remember that the intention of the whole scheme was to create a city fit for the future. The text simply reflects the ambition of the project.
"The following perspectives illustrate possible solutions to certain environmental problems created by the development of the Inner Ring Road.
"This section of motorway, encompassing the heart of the City, has been chosen for illustration purposes as it is at the centre of the proposed comprehensive highway system and contains in a concentrated form all the design problems pertaining to the integration of an urban motorway network within the City.
"In preparing these impressions some licence has been used in adopting structural forms and architectural details in areas where these matters have not yet been decided."
