By Abbie O’Leary
When people think of Liverpool city’s culture they instantly think of the infamous premier league football teams and its legendary association with the music band The Beatles. However, Liverpool has a much deeper cultural identity. The city that populates roughly 498,000 people is currently thriving as cultural hub (Ukpopulation.org, n.d.).
Liverpool’s transition from an industrial city to a post-industrial city
Liverpool is currently one of the United Kingdom’s largest and most visited cities. Today it is recognised as a city that prospers from its own culture and has therefore transformed itself from its historical past. From as early as the 17th century Liverpool used its port location to an advantage and became a city highly involved in trade and the manufacturing industry. Due to this by the 19th century Liverpool was a successful prosperous and wealthy city. However, as a result of the decline in the manufacturing industry, by the 20th century the city experienced some of the highest unemployment rates in the United Kingdom. During this time Liverpool gained a negative image of a city contaminated by economic and social deprivation. Since then Liverpool has made the transition from an industrial city to a post-industrial city and a move towards a more knowledge-based economy in an attempt to rebrand itself with a ‘deindustrialised image’ (Boland 2010, Cox and O’Brien 2019).
Like many other European cities during this time of socioeconomic transition, Liverpool adopted culture and creativity as a strategic way to rebrand the city. This can be described as ‘culture led-regeneration’, a concept that involves the use of cultural activities and arts as a way to drive urban transformation, regeneration and economic growth (Evans and Shaw, 2004).
Liverpool 2008
Culture led regeneration is viewed as a way of attracting investment, tourism and revitalising the existing environment. During this time of transition after deindustrialisation cities became competitive in the hopes of attracting the most sought-after businesses. Therefore, in order to ‘survive’ in a world of striving global cities it was important for Liverpool to embrace and promote its own culture. The European Capital of Culture acted as a catalyst for Liverpool’s regeneration and is one of the main reasons that the city is considered as a successful example of culture led regeneration (Cox and O’Brien, 2019).
The European Capital of Culture (ECoC) is a competitive competition programme that was established in 1985 by the European Union (Boland, 2010). Two European cities are nominated to host culture led programmes and events for the duration of one year, however it is the preparation once nominated that is regarded as an opportunity for regeneration. Liverpool’s aim as the 2008 ECoC was to change people’s perceptions of Liverpool city, revitilise the city and also benefit the society and economy (Boland, 2010). Examples of culture led programmes that Liverpool played host to during 2008 include the unique showcase exhibition of ‘La Princesse’. Over 500,000 people lined the streets to watch as La Princesse, a 50 foot mechanical spider made its way through the city (Culture Liverpool, n.d.). A vast number of events also took place for example, a music concert entitled ‘Liverpool Sound’. The concert featured one of Liverpool’s own legends ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney as the headline act performing to a sold out Anfield stadium (Boland 2010, Culture Liverpool, n.d.).
Impacts of Liverpool 08
Liverpool is seen as the most successful city that took part in ECoC programme to date. It was extremely successful in attracting tourists to the city, 25% of all visitors to the city in 2008 were first time visitors (Boland 2010). This went on to create a successful tourism industry in the city of Liverpool. It also achieved the aim of economic growth generating an economic benefit of £800 million for Liverpool city region that year (Boland, 2010). However, one of the most significant elements of success for Liverpool was the affect the programme had on the perceptions of the city (Cox and O’Brien, 2019). The ECoC programme helped change negative external perceptions about Liverpool and overall raise the profile of Liverpool as a city. Its success resulted in the creation of a ‘Liverpool model’ that other British cities can use as a base to develop and revitalise themselves to match global standards (Cox and O’Brien).
However, the positive success was not evident throughout the entire city. Although it achieved changing external perceptions and experiences of the city it can be said that it failed with the internal aspect of regeneration for the local people. The preparation plans for this programme ignored the widespread issues of unemployment and poverty (as a result of deindustrialisation) therefore benefits of this programme for local people were not felt. Boland argues that the culture led regeneration process can only be experienced by those who are wealthy enough to do so. As regards to events carried out during the 52 weeks there was no evidence of these taking place in local residential areas or even any obvious promotional advertisement of Liverpool as the ECoC outside areas of the city centre.
Since 08
Although Liverpool began its culture regeneration process in the early 2000’s, it was its title of ECoC in 2008 that truly accelerated the process. Since ‘Liverpool 08’ Liverpool has continued to pursue culture as way to economically and socially benefit the city and has enabled it to become a successful creative city. Its cultural sphere expands from sport and fashion to its heritage of music and arts. Over the years Liverpool has continued to play host to culture events like ‘The Giant Spectular: Sea Odyssey ’ in 2012 which attracted over 600,000 people to the city and generated approximately £32 million (Culture Liverpool, n.d). Also 2015 is said to be one of Liverpool’s most successful years yet.
Liverpool Sleeping Giant Exhibition, Source: Liverpool Echo NewsThe economic decline experienced by Liverpool in the 20th century forced the city to turn to culture as a way of boosting the economy and a way to rebrand the city as a cultural hub to attract investors, businesses and tourists. The ECoC programme acted as a catalyst for this regeneration of Liverpool city in 2008 and helped the city gain an important status and position as a creative city. More importantly the programme helped successfully change the perception of Liverpool as a failing city by simply using culture, however it can be argued that it failed to effectively change the city for its local people. Liverpool has since continued to successfully use culture and cultural events as a way of benefitting the economy which is evident through increasing investment and employment rates. Overall Liverpool has earned itself the right to be referred to as a cultural hub and proved that there is more to the city than its football teams and music band associations.
References
BrilliantLiverpoolTours.com (2017). Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture. [image] Available at: https://www.brilliantliverpooltours.com/news/108-why-did-liverpool-win-the-bid-for-2008-european-capital-of-culture-how-has-it-benefited-the-city [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Boland, P. (2010). ‘Capital of Culture—you must be having a laugh!’ Challenging the official rhetoric of Liverpool as the 2008 European cultural capital. Social & Cultural Geography, 11(7), pp.627-645.
Cox, T. and O’Brien, D. (2019). The “scouse wedding” and other myths: reflections on the evolution of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led urban regeneration. Cultural Trends, 21(2), pp.93-101.
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Culture Liverpool. (n.d.). Legacy: The Story Since 2008 – Culture Liverpool. [online] Available at: https://www.cultureliverpool.co.uk/legacy-the-story-since-2008/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
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Evans, G. and Shaw, P. (2006). Literature Review: Culture and Regeneration’. Arts Research Digest, 37.
Liverpool Echo (2014). Sea Odyssey festival as the Little girl giant as she falls asleep. Available at: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/liverpool-giants-2014-flashback-2012-7197631 [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Liverpool Echo (2015). La Princesse. [image] Available at: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/12-reasons-liverpool-loved-being-9389820 [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Ukpopulation.org. (n.d.). Liverpool Population 2019 | Population UK. [online] Available at: https://www.ukpopulation.org/liverpool-population/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
The Paul McCartney Project (n.d.). Liverpool Sound • Sunday, June 1, 2008. [image] Available at: https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/concert/2008-06-01/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Planet Geography 