RD1 Submission

Amber Roberts RD1

A Multi-Theoretical Approach to the Future of Post-Industrial Urban Identity: A Case Study of St Helens Introduction This research proposal will discuss post-industrial identity from an Urbanism perspective. Initially the proposal will discuss the constraints of using a singular urban theory to understand the complex nature of the post-industrial town. The proposal will then present a case study to explore a multi-theoretical approach to the post-industrial town and its future identity.

Research Problem The deindustrialisation of the late twentieth century has caused uncertainty for the identity of industrial towns in the future. Many local authorities struggle to transform the economic base of former industrial towns, using ‘place’ as an economic urban driver to encourage new business. Yet, the collapse of the underlying structure of the towns has created an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine their future.

Redefining industrial towns poses a number of problems: • Many theories fail to explain their multi-layered complexities • Despite their prevalence they are overlooked by both local and global discourse • They are endemic to Northern England • Policy mobility and reproduction creates culturally irrelevant strategies • The towns are often mono-causal lacking alternative economic directions • The new directions local authorities often take lack long-sightedness and theoretical rigour • They are average in nature • The shift from organic identity towards the synthetic causes unpredictable urban form • Changes from traditional to new materiality, use and connectivity causes abstracted historic urban form Urban theory currently lacks a comprehensive approach that fully explores the paradoxical nature of post-industrial urban identity. The towns are at once: transitional and continual, traditional and contemporary, unique and generic. To understand these conflicts the study will use a multi-theoretical approach to analyse and explore new futures for the post-industrial town.

Research Proposal The research will develop an urban strategy using a multi-model approach. This will involve the consideration of the generic condition of de-industrialised English towns, through to the particular condition of the case study (St. Helens, Merseyside), analysing its historic industrial identity before generating an urban strategy. The study will use pertinent urban design theories to explore the nexus of past and future urban fabric. A provisional list of traditional and contemporary theorists is, Lynch on urban preservation (1972), Norberg-schulz on sense of place (1980), Koolhaas on the Generic (1994), Cullen on urban contrast (1961), and Dovey on Becoming (2010). The study will evaluate the usefulness of each theory in understanding the historic industrial town and its future iteration.

Research Questions • Which approaches help to understand the multi-faceted nature of postindustrial urban identity and St. Helens in particular?

• Which approaches help to develop an urban strategy for St Helens?

Amber Roberts RD1

Research Aims • Explore the dynamics of St. Helens transformation and the values associated with the urban historic and new • Develop a critical method of analysis for the industrial town • Develop a culturally relevant urban strategy for St. Helens Location Context St. Helens is a normative exemplar of a Northern post-industrial town, the case study will explore its multi-layered, historic (and new) complexity. Originally, the town grew from manufacturing industries, although recently rebranded by the local authority as ‘The UK’s most Car Friendly town’. The current strategy causes friction between economic growth, debates of future urbanity (such as peak oil, globalisation and obesity), and the town’s historic identity, raising questions of the appropriateness and longevity of corporate redefinitions.

Research Methods The literature review will refine the provisional theory list (mentioned above), analysing and evaluating the conflicts and comparisons in urban theory and their use in understanding the British post-industrial condition. This secondary research will provide key concepts and methods to analyse the town’s urban history.

The case study will use mixed methods of primary and secondary research using maps, site visits, photographs, interviews (with local authority members), literature and other archival material (sourced from: Gamble Institute, St. Helens Glass Museum, Liverpool Record Office). The Geddesian method of survey-analysisdesign will structure the study. Barker & Harris’s historical survey of St. Helens will form the basis of the analysis to understand the symbiotic growth of industry, urban form and identity. Next, the study will analyse the urban impact of the deindustrialisation period and the transition from the industrial identity: Ex Terra Lucem (1876-1974 town motto ‘From the ground, light’), to the ambiguous: Prosperitas in Excelsis (1974-current town motto ‘Prospering well’). The results of the analysis will be evaluated into a taxonomy of the town. This provides a point of discussion for the multiple urban design theories in understanding and explaining contradictory post-industrial processes. The literature review and the analysis of the town will lead to the design of a nuanced and culturally relevant urban strategy for St. Helens.

Research Outcomes • A blended theoretical analysis method for Northern post-industrial towns • A critique of urban design theories and their relevance to post-industrial towns • An urban strategy for St Helens The proposed study will develop my previous MA research of the changing ideologies of UK master-planning since the post-war period. The research concluded that urban strategies maintain a singular, modernist conception of Place due to the lack of interaction between theory and practice. The research is a continuation of my interest in the processes and drivers affecting Place and its design. The study contributes to urban design theory and post-industrial urban research, by developing a critical method specific to Northern England, which does not currently exist.

Bibliography Cullen, G. Townscape, Architectural Press, 1961 Dovey, Kim. Becoming Places: Urbanism/Architecture/Identity/Power. Abingdon: Routledge, 2010.

Koolhaas, R, The Generic City, SMLXL, New York, Monacelli, 1994 Lynch, K, What Time Is This Place? London, MIT Press, 1972 Norberg Schulz, Christian. Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture, New York, Rizzoli, 1980

Amber Roberts RD1

Theodore Barker, John Raymond Harris, A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution 1750-1900., Liverpool University Press, 1954