It has an estimated population of 13,916 in 2016, a figure which also includes the smaller adjoining neighbourhoods of Birkenshaw, Bellziehill, Calderbraes, Fallside and Tannochside under the Thorniewood ward of the local council.

[2] Viewpark takes its name from a rural estate of that name,[3][4] located just off New Edinburgh Road (today part of the A721, which dates from the early 19th century and is thus 'new' only by comparison to Old Edinburgh Road which runs parallel further north), near to which was the Viewpark Colliery, one of several mines dug in the area between Uddingston, Bellshill and the North Calder Water including Rosehall, Tannochside and Bredisholm, each of which had several pits.

They were inspired by Aesop's fables and may be the work of Robert Forrest, whose sculpture was collected by another wealthy Lanarkshire coal merchant, Sir James Watson, for his estate at Earnock.

Construction work on "The Scheme" began in the late 1940s with houses built in the area of Rowantree Avenue occupied around 1950, supplementing housing built adjacent and parallel to the "Top Road" (Old Edinburgh Road) where the local police station (the siren for which continued to sound practice air raid warnings into the 1960s) could be found, alongside the local football ground and opposite The Royal Oak Bar.

30 years later, the rebuilding of Tannochside Primary School, located next to where the factory had been, freed land for a small housing development which includes street names relating to Caterpillar and the protest.

Within the Glen lie the overgrown grounds of the grand Rosehall House (demolished 1939),[29][32] Roman ruins such as a bridge over the North Calder Water, as well as tombs dating back centuries further.

[33] In 2019, in view of its cultural and environmental importance, the local conservation group successfully applied for a £400,000 grant to purchase the undeveloped parts of the estate to preserve and enhance it for community recreational purposes.

[39] Thorniewood United, a Scottish Junior Football Association club playing in the West Region, is based in the area at Robertson Park just off Old Edinburgh Road.

Other local amateur football clubs include Viewpark United, playing in the Airdrie & Coatbridge Sunday AFL Premier Division, and Calderbraes FC.