There is a utopian version of Glasgow consistently peddled in renderings by developers and planners. The sun is always shining, the streets are clean, the roads smooth as a baby’s bottom. No potholes, no litter, no rain. A pastoral urbanist portrayal of the city, dotted with drab buildings and smooth Clyde Metro trams soaring through the sky. This is what the city is supposed to look like in the distant future. A series of lifeless vertical developments connected by a transport system as mythical as the tooth fairy.

Glasgow is a bit late to the party when it comes to building a forest of skyscrapers. Earlier this week, the city’s new Tall Building Design Guide was agreed, and the new policy will soon be approved by the council’s City Administration Committee. No longer will the height of buildings be capped “well below” what the thriving metropolis of Glasgow deserves. This new chapter promises to both encourage the development of tall buildings and corral them into specific zones so that we can build up, up, up without threatening the city’s character, skyline, or heritage assets.

In theory, yes, this is a good thing. Parameters will hopefully prevent dull 30-storey eyesores from sprouting up where they don’t belong. The “Map of Appropriateness” has designated Cowcaddens, Anderston, Trongate, Gorbals and Tradeston as the most desirable places to plonk these new beasts. By all means, use these things to hide the M8 wherever possible.

Clyde Metro rendering

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© Herald Scotland