[7] The town consists of a number of small hamlets which have largely become connected into a single urban area, with housing in a variety of styles and ages reflecting the changing use and availability of land over the decades.

Also in this area is Greenhall Park, where the Calder (Cawther) flows north through a valley to eventually join the Clyde near Newton.

[15] On the other side of the main road from Coatshill is the similar neighbourhood of Wheatlands (parts of which were built by the Scottish Special Housing Association),[16] while further east is the modern centre of the town, built up from the 19th-century mining communities at Stonefield[17] and Low Blantyre[18] featuring the local secondary school Calderside Academy, Stonefield public park, Blantyre Leisure Centre, several churches and the Clydeview Shopping Centre (which has featured a large Asda supermarket since its opening in 1980).

[19][20] Glasgow Road continues south-east via the A725 elevated bypass, the Springwells neighbourhood[21] and the town boundary, leading on to Burnbank (specifically the area once known as Greenfield).

[22] Further north of the town centre is The Village, the oldest industrially developed part of Blantyre which was previously a mill settlement on the River Clyde.

Next to the David Livingstone Centre, at the end of Station Road, is an iron suspension footbridge which crosses the Clyde giving pedestrian access to Bothwell.

Speedway was staged at the Blantyre Greyhound Stadium as the home of the Glasgow Tigers from 1977 to 1981, before the new road forced a move to Craighead Park, which closed down at the end of the 1986 season.

However, some of the AA battery buildings survived into the 21st century (albeit heavily vandalised in some cases)[28] and were incorporated – along with a former clay quarry nearby – into the landscape of Redlees Urban Park developed by the local council.

His birthplace and childhood home is now a museum at the end of Station Road, Low Blantyre on the banks of the River Clyde.

The Centre includes a museum dating from 1929 (now run by the National Trust for Scotland), a playpark, a cafe, a shop, an African Garden and several workshop studios.