[6] In 1128, David I granted the newly founded Abbey of Holyrood control of the church at Livingston and its income in a charter that was witnessed by Turstani filii Levingi (Thurstan son of Leving).

[23] The new town plan envisaged Livingston as a focal point for economic growth in the Lothian region, incorporating 'overspill' population from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

[24] The design incorporated a vision of mixed development, connected by a new series of roads in a grid system by means of grade separated junctions and roundabouts.

[24] While the new town plan considered the car to be the principal form of transport, it also envisaged a series of core footpaths to connect communities under the Radburn design.

[27] The first major development of the new town took place in Craigshill, with the first people moving into the newly built housing areas in April 1966 at Broom Walk.

[33] In September 2021, the town submitted a bid for city status in the United Kingdom as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition.

[6] Ladywell takes its name from a historic well that was dedicated to Mary and was said to have been used by medieval Scottish Kings as a site for a yearly Royal touching ceremony.

[38] The oldest rocks are classified as part of the Inverclyde Group (primarily located in the south-east of Livingston between Linhouse Water and Kirknewton).

[41][42][43][44] The area where Livingston now sits was historically dominated by oil shale mining, which is evident from the bings which still exist on much of the surrounding landscape.

[28] Livingston formed a major hub in Scotland's Silicon Glen with factories constructed in purpose-build business parks at Houston Industrial Estate and Kirkton Campus.

Like most other areas, this went into a slow decline from the late 1990s with companies including Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys), Motorola and NEC closing down their factories.

Several multi-national companies still have factories in the town, including Wyman Gordon who manufacture aircraft components on the Houston Industrial Estate.

[45] Other companies on the Houston Industrial Estate include Mitsubishi Electric (who have an electric air conditioning factory which produces almost 150,000 air conditioning and heat pump units every year),[46] Paterson Arran (a food manufacturer whose bakery, the Royal Burgh Bakery is located in Livingston),[47] and DS Smith (who have a box production plant on the estate).

[49] Developed for private businesses by the LDC, it included 300 acres of landscaped offices and factory sites along the Killandean Burn and River Almond.

[65] Companies in the Alba Business Park include Glenmorangie, the whisky distillers, who have offices and a bottling facility that was opened in 2011.

[68] Livingston town centre sits on the southern edge of the Almond Valley and provides shops and services for the surrounding area.

Almondvale Football Stadium and West Lothian College are located at the north western edge of the town centre.

[6] The Livingston Civic Centre was completed in June 2009 and officially opened by then-First Minister Alex Salmond on 25 November 2009.

[70] Livingston has three major shopping centres, three medium large retail parks, and clusters of small local stores located throughout the different areas.

[17] On 12 December 2010, with the completion of the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link, Livingston North is now served by trains running to Glasgow Queen Street and Airdrie.

[79] Livingston previously had its own Radio Station called River FM that was broadcast from the Almondvale Stadium, from 1 September 2003 until 29 January 2007.

In 2005 Robin Cook suddenly died of a heart attack[90] and a by-election was called[91] and won by the Labour Jim Devine.

Eliburn park (in the north-west of Livingston) is a 16.5-hectare (41-acre) site owned by West Lothian Council which features a reservoir (fed by the local Nell burn) with fishing access, sports facilities and a children's play area.

[113] Almondvale park, located in the centre of town, is an outdoor recreation area, with an adventure playpark, health walk/run and wildflower meadows.

[108] The youth action project involves a music session and many gigs and is widely attended by teenagers from the surrounding area.

Xcite public swimming pools operated by West Lothian Leisure are located in the nearby towns of Whitburn, Bathgate, and Linlithgow.

[123] The club was founded in 1981 by Dr Salem Patel and Doug Druce, playing its first match in August of that year in Armadale.

[124] West Indian Mark Harper became the club's first paid player and regularly set new batting records throughout the season.

[28] The ecumenical parish church is based at the Lanthorn Community complex, a ziggurat style building built on Kenilworth Rise in 1976.

Actors, musicians and entertainers include Nina Nesbitt (singer songwriter) and David Cicero (singer/keyboardist and associate of the Pet Shop Boys who moved to Livingston as a child).