Scotland Tries for the Bilbao Effect at the New V&A Dundee

Even for readers not familiar with the place, there’s a lot about the current reinvention of Dundee, Scotland that will ring a bell. A port and former industrial center, Scotland’s fourth city has been trying to revamp its downtown and attract new visitors with a well-tried tactic: redeveloping its neglected quayside as a “world-leading waterfront destination,” one that will function as a meeting place for locals and a cultural shop window to outsiders.

Earlier this month, the jewel in this ongoing revamp of the quayside was unveiled: The V&A Dundee, a spectacular design museum just opened on the quayside that is an offshoot (albeit an independent one) of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Containing the largest exhibition space in Scotland, the museum hopes to garner attention for a city that has for too long had a low profile, not just across the U.K. but even within Scotland itself. In other words, Dundee is trying to do more or less what the city of Bilbao did with its Guggenheim Museum.