Dundee

This article is about the city in Scotland. For other uses, see Dundee (disambiguation).

Dundee
Dùn Dè (Scottish Gaelic)
City and council area
Dundee City
Skyline of Dundee from Fife
Coat of arms of Dundee
Coat of arms
Official logo of Dundee
Flag of the
Dundee City Council[1][2]
Etymology: Scottish Gaelic – Dùn Dè (Tay Fort)[3]
Nickname: 
"The City of Discovery"
Dundee is located in Dundee City council area
Dundee
Dundee
Dundee locality within the Dundee City council area
Dundee is located in Scotland
Dundee
Dundee
Location in Scotland
Dundee is located in Europe
Dundee
Dundee
Dundee (Europe)
Coordinates: 56°27′38″N 2°58′12″W / 56.46056°N 2.97000°W / 56.46056; -2.97000
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryScotland
Council AreaDundee City
Lieutenancy AreaDundee
Foundedc. 11th century AD
Burgh charter1191; 833 years ago (1191)
City status26 January 1889; 135 years ago (1889-01-26)
Government
 • BodyDundee City Council
 • Lord ProvostBill Campbell
 • Leader of Dundee City CouncilMark Flynn
 • MSPs
 • MPs
Area
[4]
 • Locality18.0 sq mi (46.5 km2)
 • Urban
 (Settlement)[5]
19.4 sq mi (50.2 km2)
 • Council area[6]20 sq mi (60 km2)
Elevation
[7]
59 ft (18 m)
Population
 (2022)[6](2022)[8]
 • Locality148,210
 • Rank4th, Scotland
 • Density8,300/sq mi (3,200/km2)
 • Urban
 (Settlement)
158,820
 • Urban density8,200/sq mi (3,200/km2)
 • Metro
 (2020)[9]
264,890
 • Council area
148,350
 • Council area density6,430/sq mi (2,481/km2)
 • Language(s)
English
Scots
DemonymDundonian
Time zoneUTC±0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode district
DD1-5
Area code01382
ISO 3166-2GB-DND
ONS CodeS12000042
OS Grid ReferenceNO4030
NUTS 3UKM21
Primary airportDundee Airport
Websitewww.dundeecity.gov.uk

Dundee (/dʌnˈdiː/ ⓘ; Scots: Dundee; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dè or Dùn Dèagh, pronounced [t̪un ˈtʲeː]) is the fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was 148,210, giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 (6,420/mi2), the second-highest in Scotland. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea. Under the name of Dundee City,[10] it forms one of the 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Angus, the city developed into a burgh in the late 12th century and established itself as an important east coast trading port.[11] Rapid expansion was brought on by the Industrial Revolution, particularly in the 19th century when Dundee was the centre of the global jute industry.[12] This, along with its other major industries, gave Dundee its epithet as the city of "jute, jam and journalism".

Today, Dundee is promoted as "One City, Many Discoveries" in honour of Dundee's history of scientific activities and of the RRS Discovery, Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration vessel, which was built in Dundee and is now berthed at Discovery Point.

Biomedical and technological industries have arrived since the 1980s. In recent years, Dundee has been described as an emerging global tech hub, with the city now accounting for 10% of the United Kingdom's digital entertainment industry, including mobile app development and gaming, alongside new startups emerging in fields such as healthcare, tourism, education, and data analytics.[13][14][15][16] Dundee was named as a "City of the Future" by Cognizant in 2021, the only UK city to be featured.[17][18][19] Dundee has also been a leading city in electric vehicles, having one of the largest fleets of electric vehicles in the country. The city was named as the electric vehicle capital of Europe in 2018, and it has continuously been branded as the electric vehicle capital of Scotland and the United Kingdom.[20][21][22]

Dundee has two universities – the University of Dundee and Abertay University. In 2014, Dundee was recognised by the United Nations as the UK's first UNESCO City of Design for its diverse contributions to fields including medical research, comics and video games.[23][24][25]

With the decline of traditional industry, the city has adopted a plan to regenerate and reinvent itself as a cultural centre.[26] In pursuit of this, a £1 billion master plan to regenerate and to reconnect the Waterfront to the city centre started in 2001 and is expected to be completed within a 30-year period. The V&A Dundee – the first branch of the V&A to operate outside of London – is the main centrepiece of the waterfront project.[27][28]

A unique feature of Dundee is that its two professional football clubs, Dundee F.C. and Dundee United F.C., have stadiums all but adjacent to each other.[29] Since 2015, Dundee's international profile has risen. GQ magazine named Dundee the "Coolest Little City in Britain" in 2015 and The Wall Street Journal ranked Dundee at number 5 on its "Worldwide Hot Destinations" list for 2018.[30]

  1. ^ "Council Chambers, Dundee City Council". Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  2. ^ Bartram, Graham (2004). British Flags and Emblems. Flag Institute. p. 64. All the cities, and most of the towns, in the UK have coats-of-arms, and many of them use banner of these arms on their civic buildings and on the official car of their Mayor, Provost, Lord Mayor or Lord Provost. As with armorial county flags they are technically for the sole use of the city or town's council, but in some cases they are used more widely. Many councils also use their logo as a basis for a flag.
  3. ^ "Dundee". Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland. 2011. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  4. ^ "City Population, United Kingdom: Major Cities in Scotland". Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  5. ^ "City Population, United Kingdom: Urban Areas in Scotland". Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland". National Records of Scotland. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference population was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  9. ^ "Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Dundee City". Ordnance Survey. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Dundee's Maritime History". Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Dundee: Jute and Empire". Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Dundee is cementing its reputation as a growing global tech hub". The Courier. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  14. ^ O'Sullivan, Kevin (25 September 2024). "Boost for Dundee as tech destination as more than 100 members join startup cluster". FutureScot. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Dundee - a Tech Nation city to watch | Digital Dundee". www.digitaldundee.com. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  16. ^ Simon (26 July 2019). "Embracing the rise of new UK tech hubs". Envisics. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  17. ^ "21 Places of the Future: Where is the future of work?" (PDF). Cognizant. 31 March 2021.
  18. ^ "From Dundee to Outer Space: 21 places defining the future of work". Intelligent CIO Europe. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  19. ^ "Dundee in world's top places of the future | Digital Dundee". www.digitaldundee.com. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  20. ^ "Dundee has become the first city in Europe to introduce retractable EV chargers". Dundee Culture. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  21. ^ Huband, Graham (14 January 2019). "Dundee Matters: City powers up as electric vehicle capital of Scotland". The Courier. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Electric vehicles will change how cities look. Just ask the Scottish city of Dundee". CBC News. 12 November 2021.
  23. ^ "Dundee awarded UK's first Unesco City of Design status". BBC News. December 2014. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  24. ^ "Dundee wins City of Design status from UNESCO". The Courier. December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  25. ^ "Dundee the UK's first Unesco 'City of Design'". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014.
  26. ^ "Dundee: Creative Cities" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  27. ^ Urquhart, Frank (13 August 2013). "V&A Museum at Dundee could see 2016 opening". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  28. ^ "Victoria and Albert Dundee". Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  29. ^ "Dens Park". Dundee Football Club. Archived from the original on 15 July 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  30. ^ "Dundee named worldwide 'hot destination' by Wall Street Journal". BBC News. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.