Liverpool in the New Millennium: An Urban Renaissance?

At the beginning of a new century and a new millennium, Liverpool's prospects are more promising now than at any point in the last thirty years. The economic downturn, seen in the decline in the traditional shipping and car industries, has some prospect of being reversed, with the symbolic replacement of the traditional Ford with the more upmarket Jaguar at the new industrial city of Speke/Garston, in contrast to the difficulties faced by the car industry in Birmingham (BMW/Rover) and Dagenham (Ford).

The Port of Liverpool is now enjoying a revival, as the waterfront itself, having been kick-started by the Albert Dock refurbishment, is being transformed with new homes, office blocks and hotels, with plans also being developed for new cultural and leisure facilities and enhanced ferry and cruise-liner facilities. The Liverpool city region is becoming a leading site for call centres, the new factories of the twenty-first century, and there is pioneering work in ICT and biotechnology. The second round of Objective One funding will deliver a further total of £2 billion to Merseyside, including public and private funds matching the European Commission's allocation.

The café and club culture is spawning a host of new restaurants, bars and coffee shops throughout the city centre, and into the suburbs too. There is no let-up in the impact of students on the Liverpool scene, with Liverpool remaining one of the most popular student destinations. New or renovated facilities for educational purposes or for student accommodation are contributing to the construction mini-boom in the city. City living is taking off, thanks to the imaginative, designconscious conversions of lofts, derelict buildings and redundant office blocks being developed by a group of young entrepreneurs with local connections led by Urban Splash.

There is a talented sector of small creative enterprises, in retail, in the arts, in computer design and e-technology, symbolised by the state-of-the-art new cultural centre established by FACT, the Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology.