Hyndland to Hillhead: The Application of Feeling
Part of the AoU's Summer of Walking programme, taking place in Glasgow
The AoU's Summer of Walking, part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, is a programme of tours curated and led by our members, bringing together urbanists across the UK to explore interesting, alternative, or just plain great urbanism by foot. Click here to see other tours taking place this summer.
Keep an eye on the AoU newsletter, where more tours will be announced and reminders sent out.
Date: Saturday 20 September 2025
Time: 13:00
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Curated by: John Duffy
Distance (approx): 3.5km
Duration (approx): 2.5 hours
Please check your booking confirmation for info about the meeting point for this tour.
About the tour
What is it about a place that makes it feel whole and human scaled? Why are some places quiet and calm and others livelier and more vibrant? What does it take to - as Christopher Alexander puts it - ‘bring a place to its life’.
We hope there are some answers here. Part Dérive and part guided tour, this walk through the heart of the West End of Glasgow will be conducted through the lens of Christopher Alexander's ideas of Wholeness and Feeling. It is a walk that aims to put the walker at the centre of things and to enable the participants to become sensitised to the possibilities of beauty and place.
We will start in Hyndland, one of the city's finest late Victorian / Edwardian tenemental neighbourhoods, and end in one of the City's newest emerging masterplans at the University of Glasgow's Gilmorehill.
We will meet in Glasgow City Centre for a short presentation on the work of Alexander and the walking route. We will then take a short train ride from Glasgow Queen Street to Hyndland (3 stops) and walk from there to Hillhead taking in some of the finest townscape in the UK. Bring your walking shoes, an umbrella and an open mind.
About John
John Duffy is an urban designer with an extensive background in architecture and masterplanning, developed through experience in private practice, local authority, multinational firms, and independent consultancy. He teaches part-time at the University of Strathclyde’s Urban Design and Analytics Research Unit and was a speaker at its recent symposium, New Towns and Design Codes: Designing the Evolving City.
In addition, he has enjoyed submitting projects for competition and has exhibited his work through the Glasgow Institute of Architects, Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Archifringe.
Passionate about people and place, he is driven by the potential of thoughtful design to improve lives and his lifelong fascination with the City of Glasgow continues to shape and inspire his work.
With thanks to Collective Architecture for hosting the introductory portion of this tour in Glasgow city centre.
Bus fare and any refreshments are provided at your own expense.
All illustrations on this page are John's own.
