Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dèagh) - originally called Alectum, is the fourth-largest city in Scotland, with a population of 143,090. However, if outer districts such as Monifieth and Invergowrie, joined physically but not politically, are counted, the number is around 170,000. It is located on the north bank of the River Tay's estuary and so is near the east coast and the North Sea. Dundee is known as the City of Discovery, both in honour of Dundee's history of scientific activities, and of the RRS Discovery, Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration vessel, which was built in Dundee and is now berthed there.
Its history began with the Picts in the Iron Age and during the medieval period was the site of many battles. During the Industrial Revolution the local jute industry caused the city to grow rapidly. In this period Dundee also gained a reputation for its marmalade industry and its journalism, giving Dundee its epithet as the city of 'jute, jam and journalism'. Dundee's population reached a peak of nearly 200,000 at the start of the 1970s, but it has since declined due to outward migration and the council boundary changes of the 1970s and 1980s, which saw Dundee lose suburbs to the surrounding counties.
The biomedical and technology industries have grown since the 1980s and the city now accounts for 10% of Britain’s digital entertainment industry. The city is home to the Scottish Dance Theatre, who are based in the city's Dundee Repertory Theatre, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which regularly plays in the city's Caird Hall. On 5 March 2004 Dundee was granted Fairtrade City status.[2]
GeographyDundee is located at on the north bank of the Firth of Tay and near the North Sea. The city surrounds the basalt plug of an extinct volcano, called Dundee Law or simply The Law (174 metres (571 ft)).[13] Dundee is Scotland's only south-facing city, giving it a claim to being Scotland's sunniest and warmest city. Temperatures tend to be a couple of degrees higher than Aberdeen to the north or the coastal areas of Angus. Dundee suffers less severe winters than other parts of Scotland due to the range of protective hills at the back of the city, which are often snow covered while the city itself remains clear.[14]
The city, being on a relatively small landspace, is the most densely populated area in Scotland after Glasgow and around fifth in the U.K. overall. It is characterised by tall tenements, mainly four storeys high, Victorian, and built from a honey or brown sandstone. The inner districts of the city, as well as some of the outer estates, are home to a large number of multi storey tower blocks from the 1960s. The outer estates are among some of the poorest urban districts in the United Kingdom. To the east of the city area is the distinct but incorporated suburb of Broughty Ferry with its yacht club, wide ranging and upmarket services and expensive houses - many of architectural note, developed during the Industrial Revolution, housing professionals, footballers, and the GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly. A recent apartment in Broughty Ferry entered the market with an asking price of £750,000, far higher than the Scottish average.
Dundee lies close to Perth (20 miles) and the southern Highlands to the west. St Andrews (14 miles) and north-east Fife are situated to the south, while the Sidlaw Hills, Angus Glens and the Glamis Castle are located to the north. Two of Scotland's most prestigious links golf courses, St Andrews and Carnoustie are located nearby. The towns of Invergowrie in Perthshire, Newport on Tay in Fife and Monifieth and Birkhill in Angus are outside of local government control of Dundee but are de facto suburbs of the city.
DemographicsNatives of Dundee are called Dundonians and are recognisable for their distinctive accent,[15] which most noticeably substitutes the monophthong /e/ in place of the diphthong /ai/. A significant proportion of the population are on a lower than average income or receive social security benefits, and benefit fraud is above average . More than half of the city's council wards are among Scotland's most deprived[16] and fewer than half of the homes in Dundee are owner-occupied, a slight majority being owned by housing associations and the council, although it does rank higher than Glasgow. For all its social problems, neither do Dundonians die as early as Glaswegians.[17] The Whitfield area in particular has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK at 96%.[18] Dundee had the highest rate of abortions in Scotland in 2004 (24.2 per 1000)[19] and the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe discounting some Inner London boroughs which are not counted independently. [20] (1 in 16; the national average is 1 in 23).[21]
Dundee's population increased substantially with the urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution as did other British cities. The most significant influx occurred in the mid-1800s with the arrival of Irish workers fleeing from the Potato Famine and attracted by industrialisation.[22] The city also attracted immigrants from Italy, fleeing poverty and famine, and Poland, fleeing the anti Jewish pogroms in the 19th century, and later, World War II in the 20th. Today, Dundee has a sizable ethnic minority population, including the secong highest Asian population in Scotland after Glasgow, per head of population. Dundee has attracted larger than expected numbers of Eastern Europeans and is predicted to quickly expand by a further 2,000, due to Bulgarian immigrants.[1] Dundee attracts a large number of students (many Irish and other EU), so that students account for 14.2% of the population, the highest proportion of the four Scottish Cities.[1] Dundee has a relatively high percentage of recycling of household waste. [1]
Places of worshipThe City Churches, Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's) and the Steeple Church, are the most prominent Church of Scotland buildings in Dundee. The Church of Scotland Presbytery of Dundee currently consists of 45 congregations, although many now share a minister. Robert Murray McCheyne, who was the minister of St Peter's (Free Church of Scotland) from 1838 until his death in 1843, led a significant religious revival in Dundee.[23] There are two cathedrals in the city — St. Paul's (Scottish Episcopal) and St. Andrew's (Roman Catholic).
A recorded Jewish community has existed in the city since the 19th century. The present orthodox synagogue at Dudhope Park was built in the 1970s, with the Hebrew Burial Grounds located around three miles to the east.
Muslims are served by a large mosque, several secondary mosques and the Al Maktoum Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies which opened in 2000. Scotland's only private Islamic school, for girls, is located in Broughty Ferry. Halal stores and restaurants, along with specialist shops selling Asian clothes and accessories can be found in and around the Hilltown area.
Dundee is also a noted centre of Palestinian solidarity, and is twinned with Nablus on the West Bank.
The city also has a Hindu mandir and Sikh gurdwara.
Government and politicsDundee was first made a royal burgh in 1911 and became a unitary council area in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994,[24] which gave it a single tier of local government control under the Dundee City Council. The city has two mottos — Dei Donum (Latin: Gift of God) and Prudentia et Candore (With Thought And Purity),[25] although usually only the latter is used for civic purposes. Dundee is represented in both the British House of Commons and in the Scottish Parliament. For elections to the European Parliament, Dundee is within the Scotland constituency.
Local governmentDundee is one of 32 council areas of Scotland,[24] represented by the Dundee City Council, a local authority composed of 29 elected councillors. Previously the city was a county city and later a district of the Tayside region. Council meetings take place in the City Chambers, which opened in 1933 and are located in City Square. The civic head and chair of the council is known as the Lord Provost, a position similar to that of mayor in other cities. The council executive is based in Tayside House on the banks of the River Tay, but the council recently announced plans to demolish it in favour of new premises (Dundee House) on North Lindsay Street.[26] As of 2006 the council is controlled by a minority coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrats of 12 councillors, with the support of the Conservatives who have five. Although the Scottish National Party (SNP) is the largest party on the council, with 11 councillors.[27][28] Elections to the council are on a four year cycle, the next due on 3 May 2007. Councillors are elected from single-member wards by the first past the post system of election, although this will change for the 2007 election, due to the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.[29] Eight new multi-member wards will be introduced, each electing three or four councillors by single transferable vote, to produce a form of proportional representation.
Westminster and HolyroodFor elections to the British House of Commons at Westminster, the city area and portions of the Angus council area are divided in two constituencies.[30] The constituencies of Dundee East and Dundee West are represented by Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party (SNP)) and James McGovern (Labour), respectively. For elections to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, the city area is divided between three constituencies. The Dundee East (Holyrood) constituency and the Dundee West (Holyrood) constituency are entirely within the city area. The Angus (Holyrood) constituency includes north-eastern and north-western portions of the city area.[30] All three constituencies are within the North East Scotland electoral region. Shona Robison (SNP) is the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dundee East constituency; Kate Maclean (Labour) is the current MSP for the Dundee West constituency and Andrew Welsh (SNP) is the current MSP for the Angus constituency.
International linksDundee maintains cultural, economic and educational ties with six twin cities:[31]
In addition, the Scottish Episcopalian Diocese of Brechin (centred on St Paul’s Cathedral in Dundee) is twinned with the diocese of Iowa, USA and the diocese of Swaziland.[32]
EconomyDundee is a regional employment and education centre, and is Scotland's most important retail centre after Glasgow and Edinburgh, with over 300,000 persons within 30 minutes drive of the city centre and 700,000 people within one hour. The city is well located at the heart of Scotland and is just over an hour from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and little further from Aberdeen. Many people from North East Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross commute to the city.[33] In 2006 the city itself had an economically active population of 76.7% of the working age population, about 20% of the working age population are full time students. The city sustains just under 95,000 jobs in around 4,000 companies. The number of jobs in the city has grown by around 10% since 1996. Recent and current investment levels in the city are at a record level. Since 1997 Dundee has been the focus of investment approaching an estimated £1 billion.[34]
Despite this economic growth the proportion of Dundee’s population whose lives are affected by poverty and who can be described as socially excluded is second only to Glasgow in Scotland. Median weekly earnings were £409 in February 2006, an increase of 33% since 1998, on a par with the Scottish median.[33] Unemployment in 2006 was around 3.8%, higher than the Scottish average of 2.6%, although the city has “closed the gap” since the 1996 when unemployment was 8.6% with the Scottish average at 6.1%. In 2000 the number of unemployed in the city had fallen to below 5,000 for the first time in over 25 years. Average house prices in Dundee have more than doubled since 1990 from an average of £42,475, to £102,025 in 2006.[35] Total house sales in the city have more than trebled since 1990 from £115,915,391 to £376,999,716 in 2004. House prices rose by over 15% between 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 and between 2005 and 2006 prices rose by 16.6%.[35]
Modern dayAs in the rest of Scotland manufacturing industries are being gradually replaced by a modern mixed economy, supported by public and private investment and a skilled or semi-skilled workforce, although 13.5% of the workforce still work in the manufacturing sector, higher than the Scottish and UK average, and more than double that of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The main new growth sectors have been software development and biotechnology along with retail. The city has a small financial, banking and insurance sector, with 11% of the workforce, smaller than the three larger Scottish cities, for example Edinburgh’s banking and finance sector accounts for 33.3% of it’s workforce.
In 2006, 29 companies employed 300 or more staff these include limited and private companies NCR Corporation, Michelin, Tesco, D. C. Thomson & Co, BT, Client Logic Ltd, Norwich Union, Royal Bank of Scotland, Asda, Strathtay Scottish, Tayside Contracts, Tokheim, Scottish Citylink, W H Brown Construction, C J Lang & Son, Joinery and Timber Creations, HBOS, Debenhams, Travel Dundee, WL Gore and Associates, In Practice Systems, The Wood Group, Simclar, Millipore Life Sciences, Alchemy, Cypex. Major employers in the public sector and non profit sector are NHS Tayside, the University of Dundee, Tayside Police, Dundee College, Tayside Fire Brigade, HM Revenue and Customs, University of Abertay Dundee and Wellcome Trust.
The largest employers in Dundee are the city council and the National Health Service, which make up over 10% of the city's workforce. The biomedical and biotechnology sectors, including start-up biomedical companies arising from university research, employ just under 1,000 people directly and nearly 2,000 indirectly.[41] Information technology and software for computer games have been important industries in the city for more than twenty years. Rockstar North, developer of Lemmings and the Grand Theft Auto series was founded in Dundee as DMA Design by David Jones; an undergraduate of the University of Abertay Dundee.[42] Dundee is responsible for 10% of Britain’s digital entertainment industry, with an annual turnover of £100 million.[43] Outside of specialised fields of medicine, science and technology, the proportion of Dundonians employed in the manufacturing sector is higher than that found in the larger Scottish cities; nearly 12% of workers. Manufacturing income per head in Dundee was £19,700 in 1999, compared to £16,700 in Glasgow.[44] The insolvency rate for businesses in Dundee is lower than other Scottish cities, accounting for only 2.3% of all liquidations in Scotland, compared to 22% and 61.4% for Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.[44]
The surrounding area is home to three major U.K. military bases, Condor (Royal Marines), Leuchars (RAF) which can cause sudden noise from aircraft exercises, and Barry (army and training).
The city is served by Ninewells Hospital - one of the largest and most up to date in Europe, as well as three other public hospitals - Kings Cross, Victoria, and Ashludie, and one private, Fernbrae. A psychiatric hospital is located just outside, in the suburb of Liff.
There is an open prison at Castle Huntly which holds low supervision adult male prisoners serving 18 months and over, and a larger prison which generally is used for male prisoners serving sentences of less than four years in nearby Perth. The Perth prison includes a young offenders section in Friarton Hall particularly for those approaching the end of their sentence.[2]
TourismThe number of visitors has been steadily rising over the last ten years, while visitors from outside the UK has more than doubled in that time. Dundee’s hotels also serve as a base for tourism in the surrounding rural areas of Angus and Perth and Kinross.
TransportDundee is served by the A90 road which connects the city to the M90 and Perth in the west, and Forfar and Aberdeen in the north. The part of the road that is in the city is a dual carriageway and forms the city's main bypass on its north side, known as the Kingsway, which can become very busy at rush hour. To the east, the A92 connects the city to Monifieth and Arbroath. The A92 also connects the city to the county of Fife on the south side of the Tay estuary via a toll bridge, although tolls are only charged for southbound traffic heading into Fife. The main southern route around the city is Riverside Drive and Riverside Avenue (the A991), that runs alongside the Tay from a junction with the A90 in the west, to the city centre where it joins the A92 at the bridge.
Dundee has an extensive public bus transport system, with the Seagate Bus Station serving as the city's main terminus. Travel Dundee operates most of the intra-city services, with other more rural services operated by Strathtay Scottish. The city's two railway stations are the main Dundee (Tay Bridge) Station, which is situated near the waterfront and the much smaller Broughty Ferry Station, which is further east in Broughty Ferry. These are complimented by the stations at Invergowrie and Monifieth, with another planned for Newport on Tay. Passenger services at Dundee are provided by First Scotrail, Virgin Cross Country and GNER. There are no freight services that serve the city since Dundee lost its Freightliner terminal in the 1980s. A regional airport offers commercial flights to London City Airport five times a day.[45] The airport has a 1,400-metre runway capable of serving small aircraft and is located 3 kilometres west of the city centre, adjacent to the Tay river. The nearest major international airport is Edinburgh, 39 miles and around 45 minutes drive away. The nearest seaport is Rosyth, around 35 miles to the south on the Firth of Forth.
CultureDundee is home to Scotland's only full-time repertory ensemble, established in the 1930s. One of its most famous alumni, Hollywood actor Brian Cox is a native of the city.[46] The Dundee Repertory Theatre, built in 1982 is the base for Scottish Dance Theatre. Dundee's principal concert auditorium, the Caird Hall (named after its benefactor, the jute baron James Key Caird) regularly hosts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Various smaller venues host local and international musicians during Dundee's annual Jazz, Guitar and Blues Festivals. An art gallery and an art house cinema are located in Dundee Contemporary Arts, which opened in 1999 in the city's cultural quarter. McManus Galleries is a Gothic Revival-style building, located in Albert Square. It houses a museum and art gallery that exhibits a collection of fine and decorative art and a natural history collection.
Dundee has a strong literary heritage, with several authors either having been born, having lived in or studied in the city. These include A. L. Kennedy, Rosamunde Pilcher, Kate Atkinson, Thomas Dick, Mary Shelley and John Burnside. The Dundee International Book Prize is a biennial competition open to new authors, offering a prize of £10,000 and publication by Polygon Books. Past winners have included Andrew Murray Scott, Claire-Marie Watson and Malcolm Archibald. William McGonagall, regularly cited as the 'worlds worst poet',[47] worked and wrote in the city, often giving performances of his work in pubs and bars. Many of his poems are about the city and events therein, such as his work The Tay Bridge Disaster.
MusicPopular music groups such as the 1970s soul-funk outfit Average White Band, the Associates,[48] the band Spare Snare[49], Danny Wilson and the Indie rock band The View hail from Dundee, all the members of The View were at the city's St Johns RC High School, their debut single went to number 15 in the UK singles chart.[49] Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue and singer-songwriter K.T. Tunstall are former pupils of the High School of Dundee, although Tunstall is not a native of the city.[50] The Irish indie rock band Snow Patrol was formed by students at the University of Dundee,[51] and Brian Molko; lead singer of Placebo, grew up in the city.[52] In the autumn, Dundee hosts an annual blues festival known as the Dundee Blues Bonanza.[53] In May 2006, BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival was held in the city's Camperdown park.[49] The city has two radio stations — Wave 102 and Tay FM — which broadcast on 102.0 and 102.8 FM respectively. Tay FM also has a sister AM station, Tay AM. Between 2001 and 2002, the city had its own RSL television channel, the Channel Six Dundee, which played music videos and cult children's cartoons.
A number of other high profile people are natives of the city and its surrounding area, including the actor Alan Cumming and the late Princess Margaret.
SportsDundee has two professional football teams — (Dundee and Dundee United). Their stadia (Dens Park and Tannadice Park) are closer together than any senior pair in world football. Dundee is one of only three British cities to have produced two European Cup semi-finalists (the others being Glasgow and London). Dundee FC was relegated to the First Division in the 2004-05 season, leaving Dundee United as the city's only Scottish Premier League (SPL) team.[54] Dundee and surrounding towns are home to a number of junior football teams. In May 2005, two local teams — Tayport and Lochee United — qualified for the final of the Scottish Junior Cup at Tannadice Park, which was won by Tayport.[55] Dundee is home to the Dundee Texol Stars ice hockey team which plays at Dundee Ice Arena. The team participates in the Scottish National League (SNL) with the Dundee Tigers and the Northern League (NL) and in cup competitions. Dundee is home to Dundee High School Former Pupils rugby club which plays in the First Division of the BT Premier League rugby club. Menzieshill Hockey Club are one of Scotland's premier field hockey teams and regularly represent Scotland in European competitions. The team plays in the European Indoor Cup A Division and has won the Scottish Indoor National League seven times in the last decade. An outdoor concrete skate park was constructed in Dudhope Park with money from the Scottish Executive’s Quality of Life Fund.[56] Opened in 2006, the park was nominated for the Nancy Ovens Award.[57]
Education SchoolsSchools in Dundee have a pupil enrollment of over 20,300.[17] There are forty-one primary schools and ten secondary schools in the city. Of these, twelve primary and three secondary schools serve the city's Roman Catholic population; the remainder are non-denominational. Dundee is also home to a school for Muslim girls — the only one of its kind in Scotland.[58] Standards in Dundee's primary schools have shown continuous improvement since 2001, with most meeting or exceeding the national average for rates of improvement.[59] Educational performance at standard and higher grade in secondary schools had been well below the national average in 1997 to 1999,[17] although subsequent figures have shown a significant improvement. Between 2003 to 2005, 85% of pupils achieved access 3 or standard grade, 5–6 in English or Maths and 12% achieving at least 5 higher awards at A–C grades.[60] The average number of graduates who continued on to further or higher education was 56% in the school year 2004/5, 4% higher than the national average of 52%.[60] This was an increase from the period of 1997 to 1999 when the rate had had been well below the national average.[60] The rate of truancy in Dundee schools has improved to 0.2% from previous rates, which had exceeded the national average of 0.8%.[17]
Dundee is home to one independent (private) grammar school, the High School of Dundee, which founded in the 13th century by the Abbot and Monks of Lindores. Early students included William Wallace, Hector Boece and James, John and Robert Wedderburn, the authors of The Gude and Godlie Ballatis, one of the most important literary works of the Scottish Reformation. It was the earliest Reformed school in Scotland, having adopted the new religion in 1554.
The most prominent of Dundee's state secondary schools are the Harris Academy and the Morgan Academy. The Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the largest state school in the city. Former pupils include MP George Galloway, professional footballer Christian Dailly and the former vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club, Donald Findlay. The Morgan Academy dates back to 1888 when the Dundee Burgh School Board bought Morgan hospital and reopened it as a school. The school and the prior hospital take their names from John Morgan, who bequeathed much of his fortune to establish a residential institution. The landmark building was gutted by an enormous fire in 2001 but has since been painstakingly restored and updated.
St Johns RC High School was refurbished between 2004 and 2006, the new £12.5 million building is one of the most advanced schools in Britain.
Colleges and universitiesDundee is home to two universities and a student population of approximately 17,000.[1] The University of Dundee was established in 1967, after 70 years as a college of the University of St Andrews. Significant research in biomedical fields and oncology is carried out in the 'College of Life Sciences'.[61] The university also incorporates the Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design. In October 2005, the university became the first UNESCO centre in the UK; the centre will be involved in research regarding the management of the world's water resources on behalf of the United Nations.[62]
The University of Abertay Dundee is a new university; created in 1994 under legislation granting the status of university to the Dundee Institute of Technology, which had been founded in 1888. The university has a computer games technology and design department that holds an annual computer game production competition called Dare to Be Digital. The university is also home to the Dundee Business School. In May 2002, University of Abertay Dundee was ranked number one in the United Kingdom for its investment in IT facilities by the Financial Times.[63] [64] The University of Dundee was ranked third for social work, seventh for architecture and eighth for biological sciences.[64]
Dundee College is the city's umbrella further education college, which was established in 1985 as an institution of higher education and vocational training. The college is noted for its New Media centre and incorporates the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance. In a 2005 HMIE inspection, the college's teaching and learning process were rated 'very good' in six of the seven subject areas and overall evaluations.[65]
