First annual conference of the First annual conference of the University Network of European University Network of European

Capitals of CultureCapitals of Culture

TOWN AND GOWN

Lucian Blaga University

Sibiu, Romania

LIVERPOOL08LIVERPOOL08

What does it mean to the City's residents?

Investigating the IDENTITY and BRANDING of Liverpool from the Perspective of some Liverpool

Residents

Jan Brown and John PhillipsHope Business School

Liverpool Hope University

Presented by Professor Bill Chambers

Pro Vice Chancellor External Affairs and Widening Participation

Liverpool Hope University

Town and GownTown and Gown• Liverpool Hope University's contribution to the

Liverpool08 Capital of Culture • The function of academic research in the local

community: to discern the future it is necessary to understand the past

• Research asked key questions about Liverpool's past:

• How did people form their identity – their self image and the image projected to others?

• How did people form the communities that gave them that identity?

METHODOLOGYMETHODOLOGY

• Purposive sample not a representative or numerical sample of residents

• In depth semi-structured interviews • 2-3 hours in homes: kitchens and lounges• Loosely using `grounded theory`• Narrative framework: listening to voices• To point of saturation

The ResidentsThe Residents

• N = 11• Women: known to one researcher• Born pre 1950• 59 – 97: community `elders`• Inner city – by the river Mersey• Faith group – church attenders• Pre 1950 Working class• Mixed race: birth and marriage

AimsAims

• To investigate whether the branding terms of `Capital of Culture` and `World class` can give Liverpool people a new identity and a new sense of community

• by• Investigating and understanding how people

in the past created identity and formed community.

Some DefinitionsSome Definitions

• Identity: image of self and the image communicated to others

• Place branding: the application of marketing and branding strategies and techniques to the economic, social and cultural development of places like cities and nations

A Capital of CultureA Capital of Culture

Avowed purposes

• Economic regeneration

• Community building

• Building social capital

Ethics of Place brandingEthics of Place branding

Some questions:

Can a brand be imposed upon the residents of a place, like a commodity, and without their consent: are people as well as the place branded?

How can a consensus be formed about the nature of the brand; and how can it be enforced?

How can a brand reflect social complexity and differences amongst people?

The role of CultureThe role of Culture• What is culture?• Artefacts; exhibitions; concerts; festivals?• Occasions that draw people together in

community?• What is the function of culture?• Defining and preserving identity?• Creating community: “Only culture can do

this”?

Challenging the presumptionsChallenging the presumptions

• Can Capital of Culture status, and cultural artefacts really re-brand Liverpool?

• Can a new identity be imposed from the top on the residents below?

• How can people give their consent to the re-branding, and to any particular new brand or identity?

Liverpool: the original brandLiverpool: the original brand

• Seaport: gateway to the New World

Heritage and historyHeritage and history

• `There is no town in England, London excepted, that can equal it` Defoe 1724

• `The New York of Europe` Illustrated London News 1886

• `One of the richest and most prosperous trading centres in the world` Muir 1907

• `The pool of life` Carl Jung 1927

Liverpool: the updated brandLiverpool: the updated brand

• Beatles

And footballAnd football

• …and little else

Liverpool: the dark undersideLiverpool: the dark underside

• Slave Trade 18C• Industrial unrest 1960s• Economic degeneration 1970s• Social disturbance 1980s

• The need for a new brand – a new identity

Quo Vadis?Quo Vadis?

• What does the future hold? • or• How can that future be shaped or branded

to develop Liverpool`s social capital to its fullest?

The interview questionsThe interview questions

• Opening:• What was it like growing up in Liverpool?

• Closing:• What do you think of the Capital of

Culture?

EMERGENT THEMESEMERGENT THEMES

• Community and Identity built around:• First family• Neighbourhood• The significance of the Mersey and Docks• Adolescence• Adult life• Key life events and interventions

FIRST FAMILYFIRST FAMILY

• Mothers: matriarchs – home and community builders

• Inspiring values

• In charge

the family…the family…

• Fathers – absent: sea and docks

• Siblings –playmates, parenting skills

• `Aunties and uncles` –support and social welfare network

NEIGHBOURHOODNEIGHBOURHOOD

• Neighbours – street aunties and uncles• The street – pride; playground

the streets around…the streets around…

• Institutions: Church; school; shops; embassies and consulates

• Social Integration –

community forged by poverty

no colour consciousness

little religious distinction

RIVER AND DOCKSRIVER AND DOCKS

• “Passage of love: passage of sorrow”• Family: work; marriage• Seamen: cultural richness – music, food,

smells• Routines and rhythms: work and recreation

by the river

ADOLESCENCEADOLESCENCE

• Group membership • Music: clubs; dancehalls• Community centres• Coffee bars

ADULT LIFEADULT LIFE

• Second family: own children – matriarchal values carried on

• Grand family: carers; celebrations

• Work: factories; racial prejudice; enterprise

LIFE INTERVENTIONSLIFE INTERVENTIONS

• World War Two 1939-45:

evacuation unhappy

• Blitz and air raid shelters:

created community

Post war…Post war…

• Slum clearance 1950s: uprooting of communities

• Toxteth riots 1981: frightening: wrong kind of branding; lasting reputation

THEMES: LIVERPOOL 08THEMES: LIVERPOOL 08

• City

• Liverpool 8 – Toxteth

• Community

• Capital of Culture

CITYCITY

• Great pride in Liverpool / Merseyside• Waterfront heritage• Regeneration: new communities with strong

bonds• but• Regeneration: pricing ordinary people out

of home ownership

TOXTETHTOXTETH

• Rejection of alias• Pride in the area

But…But…

• Mixed experiences: open and closed doors

• Incomers: keep themselves to themselves

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY

• Not local – family based• Some close neighbourhood communities• But• Social disintegration: bad parenting;

children not in control; too much money and too few values

• Absence of community centres

CAPITAL OF CULTURECAPITAL OF CULTURE

• Pleased with award: potential• But• No jobs: contractors out of town/immigrant

labour• No lasting economic effects or investment• Not community building: groups excluded

from consultation; no ethnic diversity

• not reaching ordinary - people life

style shops - expensive apartments in dockland

Key findingsKey findings

• IDENTITY FORMED BY• MATRIARCHY• NEIGHBOURHOOD• RIVER• ENERGY, EXCITEMENT, CURIOSITY• REPLICATED IN OWN FAMILIES

CHANGING STRUCTURESCHANGING STRUCTURES

• SOCIAL ECONOMIC • affluence • mobility – move out and away• end of a river full of ships• (though a greater volume of trade than ever)• Seaport as heritage

End of CommunityEnd of Community

• As formed in this manner

• Identity rooted in the past experience

• A disappearing memory

Re-brandingRe-branding

• Re-invention not restoration

• New brand

• New identity

• Not `heritage and history`

Final questionsFinal questions

• What is this new brand to be?

• How is it to be formed and transmitted?

• By whom?

• How are the people to assent to it and to express it?

Capital of Culture: duskCapital of Culture: dusk

Or dawn?Or dawn?

Researcher detailsResearcher details

• Contact:• Jan Brown

Hope Business School

Hope Park, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK

brownj@hope.ac.uk

0044 151 291 3582

Invitation to work collaboratively on similar projects in Capital of Culture Cities