Glasgow fire: Why historic places matter emotionally

For many of us, the tragic events that unfolded last Sunday demonstrated that Union Corner was not just a backdrop to our lives.

It was a place that held deep meaning, whether that was from passing by, often rushing to catch trains or buses, or as a place to meet friends, grab a coffee, devour a late-night fish supper or say a bittersweet goodbye.

For me, it was a place of certainty and comfort wrapped up in the mundane fact that it was as far as I had to walk to pick up 4G signal on my mobile phone when it wouldn’t connect in the concourse at Central Station.

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We probably all have a story like this, and these stories build up over the years to ensure that places like Union Corner fizz with emotional energy. What we saw at the weekend as people gathered in shock was the release of that emotional energy.

Unfortunately, we can also look to the outpourings of grief that accompanied the fires at the Glasgow School of Art and Notre Dame in Paris. On each occasion, images of people gathering to mourn the loss of these buildings and process their grief circulated through global media outlets.

The fact that so many people stood in shock or cried and then waged a fraught battle over the most appropriate ways to reconstruct these buildings demonstrated that, for these people, these places mattered emotionally.

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In the immediate aftermath this is often expressed through a set of emotional responses: shock, horror, disbelief, sadness, and sometimes anger, as we search for ways to process the loss of something that we suddenly realise meant so much to so many people. This is often attributed to the fact that the buildings were historically significant or aesthetically pleasing - but it’s only part of the story.

Our emotional relationships with places are driven by a combination of look, feel, and use.

Rebecca Madgin is Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow | Contributed

Places like Union Corner, that are well used, of a human scale, visually pleasing, familiar, and provoke positive memories, are often those places to which we develop a deeper emotional attachment.

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The fact that we can express such strong collective emotions is because at some level, conscious or not, we develop emotional attachments to our built environment. These emotional bonds aren’t incidental but instead are deeply rooted in our psychological relationships with the places in which we conduct our daily lives – they anchor us in time and place, they provide security, comfort, familiarity.

Evidence suggests that any unexpected rupture to the built environment can have long-lasting consequences for our sense of self, community, and place.

In time, conversations will happen concerning the physical repair of Union Corner. These usually rest with the way a building looks and end up in a polarising dichotomy between rebuilding as was, or doing something new and different. What we must bear in mind is the importance of talking not just about the physical landscape, but also the accompanying emotional landscape.

At the heart of this is a conversation about how we can continue the Union Corner tradition of holding deep meaning, storing collective memories, generating positive felt experiences and ensuring that Union Corner once again fizzes with emotional energy.

Rebecca Madgin is Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow and Programme Director for the UKRI/Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Place- Based Research Programme. Her most recent book published by Cambridge University Press is entitled ‘Why Historic Places Matter Emotionally’.