Welcome to Dundee Design Trails!

These tours will direct you to some of the city’s key sites and share some intriguing design stories of Dundee, the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design. This global designation as a Creative City acknowledges Dundee’s rich design heritage, its thriving contemporary design sector and its commitment to using design to solve problems.

Each tour varies in time, from short hops to longer jaunts. We’ll discover everything from converted cinemas to submarines to world-class architecture. Please note, parts of the routes contain areas with uneven surfaces, stairs and steep hills. A number of stops are residential properties, please be respectful. 

You can access the audio guides, with expanded facts and additional stops, alongside digital versions of the maps below:

A Guide to Dundee’s Post-war Architecture

A Guide to Dundee’s Innovation & Technology

Graphic Design & Photography by Yalla Riso with Illustrations by Rhianne Connelly. Audio Guide developed by Becca Clark of dundee radio club. With thanks to Dundee City Archives, Local History at Central Library and Alison Carrie, author of ‘If These Wa’s Cuid Talk – A History of Dundee’s Surviving Jute & Flax Mills’.

Dundee Design Trails are part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with additional support from V&A Dundee, Dundee City Council and Leisure & Culture Dundee.