The Herald

The term Unesco World Heritage Site generally produces visions of the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Barrier Reef or maybe even the Great Wall of China. If a Canadian academic gets her wish, however, the town of East Kilbride could join that illustrious list. To many who live in the town, her claim will make their heads spin more than negotiating East Kilbride's 60 roundabouts. However, for Sylvia Grace Borda, lecturer in visual art and theory in the department of Art History at the University of British Columbia, East Kilbride has a rich architectural heritage that should be preserved and celebrated. In 2007, East Kilbride will celebrate the 60th anniversary of becoming Scotland's first New Town. New Towns were the post-war Labour government's answer to the terribly overcrowded and squalid housing that blighted many British cities in the pre-war years.