What is the Meaning of Liverpool?

On the evening of 22nd February, 2005 The University of Liverpool Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies and the Pool Project held an open discussion entitled, “What is the Meaning of Liverpool?”. The aim of the event was to discuss the regeneration of Liverpool and its implications for local residents. Using the largely forgotten ‘pool’ of Liverpool as a starting point, the event encouraged participants to take a fresh look at their city. Around 60 people from a wide range of backgrounds and across the city joined in the discussion. Three short presentations explored different elements of Liverpool’s cultural development focussing on the potential to build upon the many cultural activities in Liverpool.

Mike Storey, Leader of the City Council, used his own history of family migration to argue for the need to take Liverpool out of the cycle of poverty and to build upon the confidence of the city’s people. Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies argued that Liverpool has a history of alternative cultural traditions and the need to value spaces that support a range of cultural expression. Jean Grant, the artist leading The Pool Project, discussed the historical importance of the ‘pool’ of Liverpool to the city and argued for its use as a conceptual starting point for artists, architects, planners and the public to think about what the city means to them.

Participants discussed these issues in small groups, a few key points included (in no particular order):

• Recognition that risk taking represented a key ingredient to cultural creativity and concern that the marketing process might ‘quash’ risk.
• Diverse views on the logic of city centre focussed development versus regenerating the city as a whole. This included concern about how and if ‘trickle down’ will reach the 'hard to reach groups' in the outer estates of the city.
• Recognition of the difficulty in getting information about events such as this to the wider community.
• The need to ally cultural development with broader infrastructure and social development, not least the improvement of transport links, for example connecting the city centre with the outer areas – the Tram Way!
• The concern that ‘grass roots’ cultures need support and space in order to play a part in Capital of Culture activities.
• A view that sloganisation is perhaps a 'necessary evil' but does not capture the breadth of cultural life in the city.
• Is regeneration always defined through the expansion of the service economy – concern was expressed about the low pay, low skill nature of jobs created.
• The need to think about ways of attracting more private finance - what happens when the public and voluntary money runs out?
• It was also suggested that the city might learn from Glasgow’s experience as Capital of Culture, recognising that, while Glasgow’s city centre was regenerated by ECoC 1990, recent research suggests that many were excluded from the benefits associated with the award.
• The feeling was that the impact of Capital of Culture 2008 and other developments in the city needed to be inclusive and sustainable.

All participants were very enthusiastic about the benefits of this event and expressed their determination that such meetings would continue in the build up to 2008. The consensus was that the people of Liverpool are the city’s primary resource and that they should seek ways to best ‘pool’ their ideas and energies. To this end, two related meetings are planned in April and May and other participants have expressed an interest in hosting additional follow-up events. If the event came to one conclusion, it was that regeneration should not be about imposing ‘culture’ on the people of the city, but about effectively supporting the cultures that already exist.

Next Steps:
It is crucial that this forum be kept as open as possible to allow input from all communities - voluntary, education, community, public and private sector organisations and also individuals who have an interest in the future of Liverpool. To this end the organisers of this event invite all participants and other interested parties to host or support future events.
The aim of such events is to give space to discussions and debates about the future of Liverpool and our roles in the changing city. In due course we will be holding an informal meeting for those who are interested in organising a future event. This will give everyone a chance to discuss what we want from these events and how best to take the co-ordination forward.

Dates for your diary:
Liverpool Hope University is holding a follow-up event on Thursday 14th April, 6.30 – 9pm, at the Hope at Everton site, Cornerstone, Shaw St, L3.
The meeting will focus on enabling local grassroots organisations and supporting diverse culture within the cultural regeneration of Liverpool.
Email mulletc@hope.ac.uk for further information.

You are also invited to the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Coffeehouse Challenge on Wednesday 4th May, 5.30pm till 8.00pm, Starbucks, Bold Street, Liverpool, FREE REFRESHMENTS.
This promises to be a lively discussion about the role of modern architecture in the regeneration of the North West of England, touching on architecture, planning, housing, shopping, transportation, urban sociology, democratic politics, community regeneration and more!
For further details please contact r.g.macdonald@livjm.ac.uk

In addition the Duncan Society are organising a series of events on this theme, for further information on these please visit: http://www.duncansociety.org.uk

Thanks to everyone who took part – speakers, participants, facilitators and helpers.
Ruth Melville – email ruth1@liv.ac.uk

Participants in the event are encouraged to disseminate this information to their wider networks.