liverpool x
November 2013
liverpool x is an event about identity, practical creativity and entrepreneurialism. It’s about who we are, where we are going and how we express ourselves in a way that is different, authentic and inspiring. It will demonstrate a city that is mature, self-confident and irrepressibly inventive.
Exhaustive debates, exquisite ideas, exhilarating performances.
Intro x is transformative, world changing liverpool x is an event about identity, practical creativity and entrepreneurialism. It’s about who we are, where we are going and how we express ourselves in a way that is different, authentic and inspiring. It will demonstrate a city that is mature, self-confident and irrepressibly inventive. X was: “contrarian, subjective, objective, gobby, opinionated, with hints of dystopia and no selfcongratulation�
liverpool x
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November 2013
Make Liverpool a world centre for small businesses and start-ups. Phillip Blond We are resourceful, entrepreneurial and inventive and yet we have fewer businesses than any comparable UK city. We need jobs but we are never going to get enough of them from large-scale inward investors. So let’s become the most radically pro-small business city in the world. Liverpool City Council should declare a ten year business rate holiday for all start-ups and sme’s relocating to the city. It should provide rent free accommodation in its own empty offices and buildings for small businesses and rethink its inward investment and marketing strategy to target innovators, startups and budding entrepreneurs.
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Homes for artists. Sally Tallant We’re selling homes for £1 in some city neighbourhoods, but continuing to knock them down in others. Should we think before we demolish? Could these abandoned and unloved places, become our most creative and fertile neighbourhoods? If artists and creative start-ups can begin to transform run-down industrial areas like The Baltic and place like Royal Standard can they bring new life to moribund residential streets too? When a city in Kentucky offered unwanted homes to artists it realised a £30 million investment restoring a once dilapidated downtown area to its former glory. So let’s offer unwanted homes to artists rent free for five years and see whether inventive and resourceful people can succeed where regeneration professionals have failed.
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November 2013
The City that went West? Stephen Bayley Stephen Bayley called Liverpool the first city in the world to die, but it’s not all bad news. He also believes that it’s our transatlantic identity and outlook that can be the springboard for our resurrection. As the inscription on his Sefton Park statue proclaims, Christopher Columbus was the discoverer of America and the maker of Liverpool. Liverpool needs to reclaim its New World Heritage and connections. The development of the Liverpool 2 port expansion and the widening of the Panama Canal will make us the natural point of entry for Atlantic and Pacific trade, but we should also be the gateway for much greater cultural, sporting and intellectual exchange with the New World. It’s time to Go West!
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A Liverpool Senate? Phillip Blond Our Mayoral system was designed to revive civic governance and provide leadership with a broader vision and deeper connections. But are our businesses, academic institutions, communities and faith leaders any more connected to decision-making than they were under the old order? Aren’t these voices and sources of energy and invention that could be playing a more direct and strategic role in shaping our city’s future? With an increasingly one-party Council and ever diminishing turnouts in local elections, a Liverpool Senate could enrich our democracy and be a place for the smart, energetic and passionately committed to have a say, make a contribution and hold our Leaders to account.
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November 2013
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November 2013
Build something beautiful! Rob MacDonald Ian Wray It’s ten years since Liverpool lost its nerve and abandoned Will Alsop’s extraordinary Fourth Grace. Why does a city that has pioneered so much radical and revolutionary architecture have nothing better to look forward to than the soulless mediocrity of Liverpool Waters? Our architecture should be a visible expression of who we are, and we are not imitative, mediocre and safe. It’s time to make amends. Are you listening Peel? Commission Will to design one truly original and beautiful building on the Liverpool waterfront! It might even inspire you to work with more great architects.
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Love Manchester! Miles Falkingham Paul duNoyer Professor Alan Harding Our histories are entwined and so our fortunes. So isn’t it time for a grown-up relationship with our estranged neighbour? The M62 is already creating a linear city that enables us sleep in Manchester, work in Salford, shop at IKEA and breathe in Liverpool. The electrification of the world’s first ever inter city rail connection and a possible HS2 spur to Liverpool will bring us even closer together and create what to all intents and purposes will be a single metropolitan area with a population and economy to really compete with London. In an increasingly globalised world isn’t it sensible to think of Liverpool and Manchester as one place, and shouldn’t our combined city region authority actually combine both of the region’s great cities?
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November 2013
Think bigger, sing louder! Roger Hill We now have a great arena but shouldn’t a city with Liverpool’s musical history and creativity have the spaces, venues and buildings to accommodate the best, biggest and most interesting international musical events? Let’s ensure that plans for the rebuilding or refurbishment of our football stadia include provision for the staging of big open air music events. Could a Liverpool Opera House and Concert Hall be the cultural heart of the regenerated North Docks? And in the meantime can we use extraordinary urban spaces like the Bull Ring and the Toast Rack building to stage genuinely original cultural performance?
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Rethink churches! Keith Hitchman We have more beautiful places of worship than any city outside London, yet many are closed, abandoned and threatened with demolition. If we don’t have the faith to keep them open, do we at least have the imagination to rethink them? Churches are hugely valuable social assets and are often the only beautiful and potentially versatile public spaces in our most deprived and fractured communities. At a time when community assets and social capital are disappearing, let’s make these spaces places for shelter, sustenance, connection and creativity. Places that assert and nurture the value of human relationships. It’s time for faith leaders to show more ingenuity, enterprise and ultimately FAITH.
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November 2013
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Thank you! We were delighted by the sheer number of people who attended to share their opinions and ideas on how our amazing city can progress further - without turning the day into an opportunity to vent the same old lamentations. The feedback we’ve had has been fantastic - and we particularly loved some of the twitter response - with one user stating x was: “contrarian, subjective, objective, gobby, opinionated, with hints of dystopia and no self-congratulation”. This is all down to you putting the forums and seminars to real use and coming up with genuinely original, creative ideas for improving the great city we live in. Thank you to the speakers who gave up their time so generously to share their expertise and give us a platform for the launch of a brand new attitude and an exciting, innovative vision for the city. We may have only scratched the surface so far, but the speakers, who came from far and wide have truly contributed to the beginnings of something different and progressive. Finally, thanks to all those who helped to coordinate the entertainment program. We were so pleased to be able to see so much local talent on the x stages, from the props design to the bands playing in the different venues across the Baltic Triangle. Thanks to those who donated time, knowledge and funds to the event. We’re currently planning the next event and we hope to see you there. Keep an eye on the website liverpoolx.com for news and updates. - Archetype
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November 2013
liverpool x
Exhaustive debate, exquisite ideas, exhilarating performances.
November 2013