Next week sees the launch in Westminster, London of the British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA) Regeneration Equality and Diversity Framework.
The BURA Board has unanimously resolved to try honestly to do what regeneration is supposed to do - reduce inequality and discrimination through the creation of environments where people can lead sustainable, happy and fulfilling lives. ...
'The next president of the United States of America will control a $150 billion annual research budget, 200,000 scientists, and 38 major research institutions and all their related labs. This president will shape human endeavors in space, bioethics debates, and the energy landscape of the 21st century.' So says Chris Mooney in his seriously impressive review of the options - options in reality about human beings, not 'just' about knowledge - awaiting electors of the next President of the USA.
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All regeneration and strategic planning professionals need to have excellent formal qualifications and wide experience; the job is far too important for anything less. But what other characteristics are also required to make a good regeneration official into an outstanding agent of delivery on the ground? Here is a list of such characteristics, from a rather specific observational position. ...
Civic leadership in action requires a range of perspectives and understandings. No single 'type' of person can hold all the wisdom to take communities forward in this complex age. A range of experience is required. The overwhelmingly white, male hegemony in Liverpool's corridors of power is a civic embarrassment, demonstrating a fundamental lack of will to learn from the richly diverse insights of its citizens. ...
How many people reading this article actually live in a city centre? How many readers in live a high-rise apartment? And how many of these readers are aged 30-50?
My guess is that fewer readers live in high-rise than have views on them; the evidence certainly shows that most people past a certain age choose to live in suburbia or out-of-town. So is the commercial emphasis on city centre 'executive' apartments sustainable?
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The public realm refurbishment of Hope Street, the thoroughfare which defines Liverpool’s cultural quarter, was finally completed in May 2007. This has offered an opportunity to reflect on, and learn some lessons from, the decade of activity culminating in Hope Street’s new look. Jim Gill, Chief Executive of Liverpool Vision, agreed to share his perceptions of that decade and what it has achieved for Hope Street and the City of Liverpool.
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An ippr report by Ioannis Kaplanis tells of increasing employment polarisation in Britain - with differences most significant amongst female employees in London. Regional economies must learn from Kaplanis's studies, looking especially at policies for the full use and retention of women's high-level skills. One emphasis must surely be on how very senior decision makers outside London (a hugely male population) respond to this challenge. ...
It's often claimed that politicians are out of touch or otherwise irrelevant to their electorate. The website 'They Work For You' is one way in which this claim can be examined, at least for Members of the UK Parliament. But can MPs ever meet all the demands put upon them, and what else do we need to know?
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Liverpool city centre is in a state of flux, as the Big Dig re-routes and bewilders in equal measure. The aim is a pleasant, business-friendly place to be. The disgraceful state of Renshaw Street, linking Lime Street Station to the city south end, sadly belies that intent. But does it have to be like this? ...
'Regeneration' happens when someone with influence perceives a need for improvement. But this is a process in which professionals omit to involve those to whom regeneration is being done at their peril. What follows is therefore a set of observations or 'rules', derived from direct experience, about how regeneration and community engagement may play out on the ground.
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Rarely are artistic installations truly inspirational, but the use by George Michael and Kenny Goss of John Lennon's piano, on which Lennon composed the song Imagine, is one such example. This travelling piano scenario is art, goodwill and common humanity all rolled into one.
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Graduate retention is a serious aspect of any decent policy for regeneration. But the emphasis on new / young graduates alone is strange, when there are always also other highly qualified and more experienced people who might offer at least as much in any developing economy. ...
Today (8 March) is International Women's Day, when women are celebrated in many parts of the world. But after more than a century of campaigning, women and men remain unequal in wealth and power. It's time for an overtly feminist, gendered approach to economics, examining the differential impacts and advantages of economic activity on women and men. ...
Not all academics are happy to see their students referred to as 'customers'. They have a point. The role of college lecturers is to ensure that their students gain the knowledge and skills required to take them further in their chosen fields. The 'student as customer' model is incomplete, if only because teaching staff inevitably know more about the chosen field than do learners. Along with the actual knowledge required, there may be scope to look afresh at the skills base students need - and at the implications of that for the 'consumer' status of students. ...
Pre-school childcare is generally regarded as expensive. Even with government financial support, it stretches many household budgets. But there are now many more childcare places than hitherto. More places and higher costs, properly handled, may together be a longer-term sign of better status for women in the labour market. ...
Today is International Mother Language Day. Celebrated for the first time in the Millennium Year, it is a programme promoted by UNESCO, the 2007 theme being multilingualism.
But why is it important? ...
Recent figures confirm that girls are doing better at school (and university) than boys. Single-sex classes within co-ed schools are not however generally seen as a way to resolve this inequality. But how much do we know about the longer-term impact on men and women of single-sex or mixed gender teaching? ...
People who care about the environment do not always have the same priorities. For some the emphasis is on maintaining the habitat of 'natural' flora and fauna. For others the most important objective is sustaining an environment in which human beings can flourish now.
Who is right, and can these two objectives both be achieved? ...
International Women's Day is coming up on 8 March. It's an event celebrating more than half the human population but it has a perennially low profile - often like the gender it celebrates. What's International Women's Day for, and how 'should' it be celebrated? ...
The place where non-state, non-business public activities challenge the assumptions of wealthy organisations and the ruling classes or prevailing consensus is often referred to as ‘civil society’. A proposal that this place have its own university in the U.K., to scrutinise and develop the core skills and specialist knowledge base of the ‘third sector’ of the economy, is now being taken seriously. ...
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Monday Women is a no-cost group, open to all, which meets and has an e-group. With affliliation of hundreds, it welcomes discussion and activities around topics of interest to women from all walks of life. After four years, the meetings are re-locating. ...
Prague is much more than a 'great city'; it is testament to a people who have within easy living memory overcome enormous odds. When this is combined with the depth of history and the spectacular cultural vistas of the city, Prague becomes irresistible. Yet, to thrive in the twenty-first century Prague must also take in its stride challenges of a very contemporary kind - the influx of a myriad visitors and of modern investment capital. It is here that lessons might be learnt from experience elsewhere. ...
Liverpool is excitedly preparing for its big years in 2007 (the city's 800th anniversary) and 2008 (the European Capital of Culture year). With such a long and dramatic history of diaspora, who knows what the city will be like by the end of the celebrations? The scope for enterprise - both in Liverpool and by other cities and regions - to build relationships across Europe and beyond is enormous.
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It's not just public conferences which often fail on diversity. The Bank of Scotland Corporate's advertisement today in Merseyside's Businessweek shows the distance still to go before the chaps grasp what diversity might be about - and why everyone, from banks to sub-regions like Merseyside, needs to implement it. ...
Are 'regeneration', 'renewal' and 'renaissance' different? Perhaps they are. Regeneration is predominantly a physical thing, whilst 'renewal' and 'renaissance' are increasingly about the real meaning, the 'soul' of the regenerational process. The journey from one to the other is a transition from the literal to the artistic and cultural. But how best to get there? ...
An online pledge-petition has just been created in support of lobbying MPs for the experimental introduction of 'daylight saving'. Twenty-first century climate change, with its requirement that we save energy wherever possible, makes the need for this proposed three-year experiment even more pressing. ...
Sometimes things move quickly. The proposal to bring the national Theatre Museum to Liverpool when it closes in London seems to be one of these times. Just ten days after being mooted on this website, a proposal to take action will be debated tonight by City Councillors in Liverpool Town Hall.
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The Farmers' Market scheduled for Liverpool's Hope Street today has been cancelled because of pressures on officialdom. This is not a new scenario when it comes to efforts to enhance the local community's engagement and enterprise. What could those 'in charge of granting permissions' do to prove themselves, rather, as partners and enablers? ...
The national collection of performing arts memorabilia, at the Theatre Museum in London, is to be dispersed when the Museum is closed in January 2007. So why not send it instead to Liverpool, as a 'V&A Liverpool', and let us up here have it as a very special part of our 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations? ...
One hundred years ago a London builder, William Willett, decided to cost 'Daylight Saving' hours in terms of health, happiness and energy. Judging from the MSN and Google search engine referrals, many of us would like to see the same thing happen again. ...
Penny Lane in Liverpool is one of Liverpool's most famous streets. How sad then that the high hopes of this community have been dashed so many times, as they try to secure their dream of a Millennium Green and a Centre for visitors and locals alike. A decade waiting is quite long enough. Now there must be some action.
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Membership of the British Urban Regeneration Association has helped me to see a wider picture of renaissance and renewal in the U.K. Lessons learned include: 1. Wider stakeholder engagement is vital right from the start of a proposed regeneration programme. 2. Environmental sustainability also needs to be built in from the start. 3. There is a need, increasingly recognised, to 'translate' the perspectives and understandings of different players at all levels in the process of renewal. ...
The benefits of modern democracy which we in the U.K. enjoy are diminished by the media when they invite us to confuse the real thing with synthetic 'political entertainment' concocted by those who then 'report' it. At a time when cyncism about politics is rife, people need to know about the realities of political involvement, so they can make informed judgements about whom they wish to support. ...
Conferences involving public funds and public policy are still too often devised and conducted as though the vast majority of the population were white, male, able-bodied and middle class. The time has come to start measuring in some way the extent to which this limited approach offers the general public value for money. ...
The Hope Street Festival in Liverpool, delayed from Midsummer, was on Sunday 17 September. This exciting milestone in Hope Street's history, introducing of a start-of-season early Autumn 'Feast' to go in future alongside the Summer Festival, is however neither the beginning nor the end of the journey. ...
The black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912) is known almost exclusively for his large-scale work, 'Hiawatha's Wedding Feast'. There is however much more to this fascinating man than just one work, including the story behind his very early chamber music works such as the Opus 1 Piano Quintet of 1893.
Life and art are intertwined in the biography of this gentle, committed advocate of equal rights who was also a hugely talented musician. ...
Over the past century our connection with basic food production has largely been lost. But now there are urgent environmental as well as direct health reasons to ensure everyone understands how food is produced. People as consumers (in both senses) need to know about food miles, short produce supply chains, nutritional value and the annual cycle of food production through the changing seasons.
One obvious starting point for this crucial 'sustainability' message is schools; and another is allotments.
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The very high temperatures in the U.K. this week should give us all pause for thought about global warming. One idea which might come from that is a realisation that there are many small ways in which energy conservation could be 'designed in' to our every day lives. Perhaps we should even have citizens' competitions to see who can come up with the best ideas? ...
Motives for dialogue between people of hugely different perspectives may be complex, but the need maintain communication is reiterated across at least modern history. Politicians as disparate as Winston Churchill, Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton have all maintained this view at various times. ...
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been going now for full five years, and it's showing an impressively modern approach to public engagement, with its very own personal Blog, inviting public involvement, by the new Defra Secretary of State, David Miliband. ...
Sustainability is a huge challenge. Solutions won't come cheap, but come they must. The imperative for meeting the huge challenge of global warming is now recognised by people across the economic and political spectrum, from Al Gore to Arnold Schwarzenegger. ...
Critics of Sure Start, the U.K. government's early years programme, have been vocal of late. Yes, there is evidence that benefit has not always as yet reached those small children and families who need it most. But this is work in progress, and it must be continued. ...
Downtown Week (11-18 June 2006) is unique in the U.K. to Liverpool. Perhaps it's a sign of a new independence of mind in our citizens that people in the city are developing this entrepreneurial event for themselves, and not because of some outside or official imperative? ...
Local communities need people who are engaged and involved - and if possible, even happy. Thanking people regularly for what they do would be a good start here..... and it might even fit the government's intended move to 'Double Devolution'. ...
The knowledge economy is a huge area, with impact at every level from the micro to the massively macro. Yet there is still much debate, influenced by celebrated economists such as Robert Solow and Paul Romer, about whether technological progress produces economic growth, or vice versa. One commentator, David Warsh, has recently suggested that this debate currently throws only limited light on economists' understanding of how economies make progress. Perhaps nonetheless there are interesting questions which arise here in terms, particularly, of the impact of 'invention' and ideas in, say, social enterprise environments? ...
Many young people want to remain in cities like Liverpool after their higher education, but opportunities to develop professionally if they do so are still often quite limited. So what exactly is a 'graduate job'? And how do graduate jobs fit in with local economies? ...
There's a debate to be had about gender pay audits or reviews. To be effective, should they be compulsory and public? Do they have the desired effect on pay equality? And could they result in pay equity within given occupations, but even lower overall wages where the majority of the workforce is female? ...
A recent survey suggests young people prefer material benefits to babies. But maybe hesitation about starting a family is more about uncertainty whether one's parenting will be good enough, than in wanting 'more' materially. And there is hope for the future of young families, not least in the support which Sure Start programmes are now beginning to deliver across the country. ...
Covent Garden's Theatre Museum is the National Museum of the Performing Arts, a unique and special place. But it is currently under threat of closure. An urgent rescue bid is being considered by the Museum's nearby neighbour, the Royal Opera House. Success in this venture is not only essential for the greater good of both parties, but also offers encouragement to those who see that to survive the arts must work together. ...
'Working together for health' is this year's slogan for World Health Day (today). ...
Human resource specialists seem to spend a lot of time these days developing ways of 'testing' potential employees. Technology does have a part to play in assessing candidiates for jobs, not least because it comprises an attempt to move beyond stereoypical and unfair assumptions. But to work to greatest effect technologically-led assessment must be considered carefully, and with due acknowledgement of the difficulties of 'proving' it is meaningful. If educators made the same deterministic (and dubious) assumptions as some human resource managers, there would be far less call for educational services. ...
The NHS is experiencing another wave of 'reconfiguration', with a focus particularly on NHS Trusts and who runs them. But has there really been a shift from public sector thinking to the modern management of a complex part of the knowledge economy? On present evidence, opportunities to encapsulate hard-won insights into the organisational aspects of the health service are probably being lost. ...
Plans for a future Mersey Tram are in tatters at the same time as the very real Mersey Ferry landing stage lies under water. More care for current assets and less dispute about proposals still on the drawing board might have served the Liverpool sub-region better. Regeneration is about looking after what we already have, even as we dream about the future. ...
International Women's Day is not a huge occasion for most people; but maybe it could be if we all grasped this annual opportunity to examine and where possible to celebrate, on a year-on-year basis, what progress has been made in gender equality. A start could be made, Monday Women decided, by ensuring we learn Herstory alongside His. ...
Cities like Liverpool still seem to have a problem about 'strong women'. On-going changes of civic leadership in the city offer an opportunity for the chaps to disprove suspicions that they continue to hold this antiquated attitude across all spheres of influence. Institutional sexism has no place in an adult and forward-looking city. ...
Liverpool's physical location and economic situation make it difficult for some local people to know much about what's happening elsewhere. This is turn results in difficulties in determining locally which new ideas for the city are good, and which less so. The proposed 'How Do They Do It?' programme could help here... but only if those who are able to do so actively support the idea. ...
Intellectual property rights seem only to apply to business ideas. What would be effect of a similar way of ensuring encouragement for community-engendered ideas? ...
There is a nostalgia in the cultural calendar at present. Memories of the 50s and 60s are to be found in both drama (The Liverpool Playhouse) and museums (the national Theatre Museum). Interesting to look at, without doubt. But perhaps much less fun to have had to live in. ...
School trips to look at local ecology seem to be very successful in encouraging children to appreciate their environment. If this works for local eco-issues, surely it can work also for wider social ones? The 'How Do They Do It?' scheme has been very slow to get off the ground, but perhaps its time has some. Who will help to make it happen? ...
The Association of British Orchestras today overtly acknowledged the health risks of orchestra playing. But for many orchestral musicians the reality of every day life is sparse professional support, low esteem, low pay and no say - exactly the conditions in which ill-health, stress and worry thrive. ...
The strongly held views on Liverpool's World Heritage Site and the Museum of Liverpool proposals have something to tell us about how we sometimes need to look beyond our own patch, to see what could or should be done. Perhaps 'cultural exchange' programmes within our own shores might be a start, so helping citizens to know each other's towns and cities across the nation? ...
The RENEW Northwest Intelligence Report just published (January 2006) on 'Making a difference: Participation and wellbeing' marks an important step forward in our notions of volunteering and its outcomes. Professor Carolyn Kagan suggests that community activists often find their 'work' stressful and unrewarding. It is indeed time we re-examined the notion of 'putting something back'; but we shouldn't assume that only those who live in difficult circumstances can share common cause in regeneration and renewal. People with professional skills who themselves become involved as volunteers can also find the going very hard - as any regeneration professionals taking Prof. Kagan's advice to 'practise what they preach' might well discover. ...
The teaching of History is a critical part of children's early experience. As such, this curriculum must be determined by education professionals who can bridge the gap between the stories of the past and the immediate background to our contemporary lives. ...
Making housing even cheaper than at present is not the way to keep professional workers in the north, whatever the short term arguments about attracting inward investment and skills. Professional workers in the north as much as the south need easy mobility, if they are to increase their experience and value both to themselves and to their employers. ...
Bright ideas are an essential part of adaptation and change; but failing to think empathetically through how and by whom the ideas will be implemented, and what personal impact of the ideas will have on all concerned, is almost guaranteed to produce problems. ...
The launch of the final Report of the Merseyside Entrepreneurship Commission this morning has thrown up some interesting facts, some challenging ideas and a number of practical 'can do's'. The big question now is, where do we go next? ...
Is 'high culture' in reality only for 'tourists' in a city like Liverpool? Have civic leaders confused seeking excellence with its occasional and much less desirable adjunct, exculsivity? If the city is serious about opportunities to support the personal development of its citizens and the economic health of its communities, 'high' arts and culture surely have to integral to the experience of the many, not just of the few. ...
The idea of 'joined up' services and support for babies and young children and their carers is excellent. The delivery is of course more complex. Sure Start may not as yet be a complete or fully accessed programme, but it is already showing us ways forward which hold promise for the future. ...
Emotional literacy, which includes anger management, is a fundamental of civil society. Let's build very positively on the new acknowledgement that relational education can bring benefit to children who may be under stress and in need to support to make the most of their lives. ...
Choosing if and when to have a baby has never been an easy decision, especially if both partners want to continue in employment. But the debate has shifted quite a lot in the past few years, and perhaps now a deeper understanding is emerging of what 'work-life balance' is really about. ...
Young professionals have always wanted spread their wings. But why are some workers outside London more willing to up roots to Australia, than they are even to try life in their own U.K. metropolis - or, come to that, in Cornwall if they want surfing and sun or in the Higlands if they want space? The distant unknown, it seems, is a more attractive dream for the future than the anything closer to home. ...
There's a current proposal for legislation to reduce car speeds to protect the environment and our resources. Environmental impact assessments are also important. Perhaps publicly funded activities should be assessed in terms of their proximity to public transport hubs. ...
A recent meeting of the North West Business Leadership Forum and The Mersey Partnership has focused minds on how to engage the Knowledge Economy at its highest levels. Reseach and Development are universally understood to enhance economies. The challenge now for Merseyside entrepreneurs and businesses is therefore to grasp the exciting opportunities emerging via our growing high-tech knowledge base. ...
Plans for Sefton Park are taking shape rapidly - as are ideas for several of Liverpool's other Parks. Monday Women decided to have a debate; points from our discussion follow. Your contributions on how Liverpool's Parks should be developed are also most welcome. ...
HOPES: The Hope Street Association (Liverpool) was honoured by being invited in September 2000 to give the 'community festival' perspective at a national meeting in London attended by the Secretary of State for Culture, Chris Smith M.P., the Millennium Commissioners and their special guests. The paper which follows was presented on this occasion by HOPES Hon. Chair, Hilary Burrage. ...
British Orchestras are under severe financial threat because of new tax rules. The likelihood is that this threat will somehow be resolved. But will most orchestra performers still find, skilled as they are, that their own professional position remains precarious? ...
Social policy implementation 'on the ground' is challenging - though it may also be exciting and certainly well worthwhile. We can all learn from comparing our expectations with the reality which follows...... ...
Control and Command, or Communicate, Consult and Collaborate? There are other 'Cs of Chairing' too, but what do all these terms tell us about how modern organisations and people see the world? ...
Different communities and groups frequently have different understandings of why 'change' occurs and how 'progress' is achieved. Leadership and initiatives in such circumstances can be very challenging. Nobody's interested in Policy Pilots. They want Results. ...
In every era of history young men have demonstrated hotheaded and sometimes unacceptable behaviour. Recent violence in our inner cities is nonetheless hugely worrying, especially in contemporary contexts of instant communications and global politics. Intervention to change this behaviour must come from many different angles. One way is collaboration between youth service and school professionals to help alientated and challenged young people develop skills to help themselves. ...
Is it actually the contracting out to private (or indeed social enterprise) suppliers for some NHS services which should be of most concern? Or is it the exact nature of the contracts agreed between NHS Trust Boards etc and their suppliers which requires the most scrutiny? There may be details here which make all the difference to what happens in the future.... ...
New technology, particularly email and the worldwide web, has many benefits to offer almost everyone. But it fails to reach many who would find it useful, principally because of its complexities and unfamiliar style. Perhaps we need to think about a 'Library of the Web' as a way of offering a level of guarantee of acceptability in terms of content, and to adopt a Plain English Campaign-style approach to e-tech presentation. ...
Gentrification as a result of 'cultural development' is often perceived by locals as unwelcome; but does it have to be that way? It may well be possible to cash in on the newly acquired wealth of an area, to bring decent jobs and opportunities to local people, including the 'creative community' whose work may have brought about that very gentrification. There is a clear role here for entrepreneurs, social and otherwise, and for proactive planning and training. ...
'Culture' often appears to be the optional add-on in regeneration. There may however be ways in which the arts and cultural community could do more to ensure that the benefits of embedding culture into regeneration are understood by those who lead development. ...
People 'in the community' often seem to have a problem with proposals for iconic cultural buildings. Could this be because they only become involved ('consulted') after, rather than before, ideas of this sort have been floated? Would things be different if Artists in Residence were truly just that? And would this help 'capacity building' for the arts, as well as physical regeneration? ...
Monday Women is an entirely free-to-join group of women who meet together and also have an e-group. It promotes the sharing of news, views and ideas and is also a sounding board for the friendly sharing of matters of interest and concern. As such, it is a social enterprise which manages without formality or funding. ...
When and how does a Big Town become a City? And, just as importantly, how does a Great City ensure it will never seem to be just a Very Big Town? What part does cultural leadership and vision play in this transition? We take a look at Liverpool... ...
At last the public realm works in Hope Street, Liverpool, are underway. This will make a huge difference to the Hope Street Quarter; but where do we go from here? ...
Arts-Based Community Development (ABCD) is the approach adopted by HOPES: The Hope Street Association, Liverpool, in working with partners to enhance the renaissance of this important cultural quarter. But how does this link with the more established approach of 'cultural tourism'? ...
What do the terms 'Conservation' and 'Sustainability' say about our attitudes to change? And can we apply them to the same sorts of things? ...
Welcome to the official website of Liverpool Fringe! which was launched on 21st November 2007. This is where everyone can read about Liverpool Fringe! and where you can post your ideas or messages of support and share details of your own events, for free....
What are the relationships between science, technology and 'modern society'? How are these interactions determined? And what is 'progress'?...
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