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The article focuses on British urban redevelopment with special reference to Glasgow, Scotland. In the middle of the nineteenth century the ancient heart of Glasgow with its Mercat Cross, its Cathedral and its University was, despite its former distinction, at least as debased as the center of any great British town. Although the population had increased five-fold between 1801 and 1861, the whole of the Glasgow of 1775 remained geographically intact. There was, in the center of this rapidly expanding conurbation a medieval city, covering about 100 acres with narrow winding ill-paved streets which were quite unsuited to the requirements of an industrial city. The central business district, including the new City Chambers, had moved west, and much of the new industry had fanned out along both sides of the River Clyde and to the north. The middle classes had moved west, leaving the declining areas to the poorest classes. Virtually no demolition took place, and indeed the demand for cheap dwellings was so great that former middle-class gardens were filled with jerry-built back-tenements.