In 2008 I was lucky enough to visit Chicago. I was a member of a delegation shown round the city’s flagship regeneration project, the Millennium Park, by then-mayor Richard Daley.
The delegation was told by the mayor how a largely unused municipal area called Grant Park, which housed the 19th century-built Illinois Railroad, had been transformed in a few years into a thriving civic space.
Today, it hosts free art exhibits and a state-of-the-art collection of architecture that provide the backdrop for hundreds of free cultural programmes including concerts at its wonderful pavilion and tours of its extensive landscaped garden.
I was completely overwhelmed – the park is stunning, a fantastic advert for the Windy City and on a chilly Tuesday morning in the middle of September, it was full of people enjoying everything it had to offer.
The Millennium Park has won a number of cultural and environmental awards and it is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of urban planning in the United States.
It was not without its difficulties and its merits were vociferously debated by local residents.
However, the city’s administration proceeded with the plans, convinced the park would create the transformational progress the city so badly needed. More than 10 years on from its completion, you would be hard pushed to find many people who would speak out against it.
There are, of course, certain parallels that can be drawn between Chicago’s Millennium Park and the previously proposed plans for Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens.
Yes, the scale of what was delivered in Chicago is far greater than what could be developed in Aberdeen due to the space available, but the principle remains. It also serves as a pertinent illustration of what might be achieved if there is enough collective will and aspiration.
I’ve been lucky enough to know Sir Ian Wood for a number of years. He is a thoroughly decent person and a man of integrity. His hugely generous offer to help transform Aberdeen’s city centre was the mark of someone who simply wanted to give something substantial back to the city that had given him so much. I have no intention or interest in replaying a well-worn debate here in the north-east but at a time when public finances across the UK are stretched, it is all the more galling that Sir Ian’s initial offer of more than £50million, with £20million extra to cover any project overruns, was rebuffed.
Lessons must be learned and I fully back the Press and Journal’s campaign to revive the heart of the city.
Aberdeen has a city centre that sorely needs it.
Sadly, Union Street looks tired, dated and most worryingly, there is little compelling reason for people to stay in – and enjoy – our city centre.
It’s the case for many people that they journey into the city, do a little bit of shopping and then go straight back out again.
I don’t intend to be prescriptive about what Aberdeen should have but I do think any development has to address the crucial lack of a people-friendly space where we have the opportunity to showcase local cultural, creative and environmental innovations and where families are encouraged to spend hours at a time enjoying their city centre.
Almost every proposed infrastructure project of significance divides its local population to some extent which is absolutely right and proper – the merits of developments should be discussed and debated by those who they will ultimately impact on.
But now is the time to be bold. It’s impossible to please everyone all of the time and decisions need to be taken that truly consider the long-term vision for Aberdeen.
Let’s get on with creating a transformational legacy for the next generation that this city will be proud of.
The people of Aberdeen deserve nothing less.
Geoff Aberdein, former chief of staff to ex-first minister Alex Salmond and now head of European public affairs at Aberdeen Asset Management