Liverpool regeneration
Before attending our Future Cities Forum at Burlington House in June it might be good to read Tristram Hunt's book 'Ten Cities that made an Empire' published by Penguin 2015. Author and new Director of the V&A Museum, Tristram Hunt is leading our discussions on 13th June 2017.
Sinclair McKay of the Daily Telegraph describes Tristram's book as rethinking ' the whole history of colonialism. From Boston to Liverpool, via Dublin, Calcutta and others, Hunt weaves a colourful account of trade and slavery, violence and aesthetic splendour'.
In our forum where we often debate the regeneration of UK cities, it is interesting to read how Tristram thinks that the history of Liverpool for example, has now gone full circle. In '1981 the end of the British Empire hit home' he writes after the sugar giant Tate & Lyle with 112 years of business in the port, closed its doors. But now 'Peel Group is hoping to revive the region's entrepot economy with its ten billion pounds Liverpool Waters and Wirral Waters redevelopment scheme.. This Property fund - cum - investment vehicle is aiming at nothing less than re-building Liverpool as the Gateway of Empire with a £300 million port enlargement to accommodate larger container ships. The plan is for Chinese imports to be sailed down the Mersey and then transported along the Manchester Ship Canal ..This is Britain and Europe 'opened up'.
Hear Tristram speak at our forum on art, science and the economic regeneration of our cities.