Glasgow-Edinburgh Collaboration

About The Cities

Glasgow and Edinburgh are Scotland largest cities. They are 46 miles (75 kilometres) apart in Scotland’s Central Belt, connected by frequent rail and coach services and by the M8 motorway. Each has an international airport.

Frommer’s ‘Edinburgh & Glasgow’ guide said that “Edinburgh and Glasgow have a lot to offer individually, and taken as a duo, they
are more impressive still. Both cities are among Europe’s most dynamic centers”. Read more about why…

People

Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city: almost 600,000 live within its municipal boundary, and the city is at the heart of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley region (population 1.7 million). Edinburgh is Scotland’s capital city. Over 450,000 people live in the city, which is the centre of a region of 1.4 million residents.

Place

Glasgow’s distinctive architectural and urban style contains many of the finest examples of Victorian architecture anywhere. The city is also famous for its buildings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, an influential figure in the Art Nouveau movement.

Glasgow’s striking economic and cultural renaissance has been marked, and assisted, by notable events such as its status as European City of Culture in 1990 and UK City of Architecture and Design in 1999.

Glasgow is home to Scotland’s principal performing arts organisations including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Edinburgh is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. A large part of the city – combining the medieval old town and eighteenth century New Town - has UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Edinburgh is consistently ranked as one of the best locations to live and work in quality of life surveys.

People from all over the world descend on Edinburgh every summer for the world-famous Edinburgh Festivals. The Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world and its Film Festival is the longest continually running film festival in the world.

Scotland’s National Galleries are located in Edinburgh.

Economy

Glasgow has successfully transformed itself from the “Second City of the (British) Empire”, which built a large proportion of the world’s ships and locomotives, to a modern service-based economy.

The city is a major centre for public administration, financial services, and tourism-related sectors. Glasgow is Scotland’s largest centre for higher education, print and broadcast media, and retail: indeed the city is rated the best shopping centre outside London.

In addition to the governance functions of a capital city - Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and many of the functions of the Scottish Executive - Edinburgh is a major financial services centre: the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBoS and Standard Life all have their headquarters in the city. Edinburgh is also one of the largest fund management bases in Europe.

Other key sectors include software/IT, the creative industries, biotechnology/life sciences, and tourism.

A few famous citizens

Glasgow: James Keir Hardie, Donald Dewar, Sir Thomas Lipton, Sir Alex Ferguson, Billy Connolly, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Kenny Dalglish, Allan Pinkerton, and Robbie Coltrane.

Edinburgh: Tony Blair, Alexander Graham Bell, Sean Connery, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, David Hume, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, JK Rowling and Ian Rankin.