RECLAIMING THE CITY

SEMINAR 1

CHAIR’S WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the opening seminar in the 2016 Engage seminar series ‘Reclaiming the City from consumer and stranger to citizen and neighbour’.

And welcome to this prestigious venue, the recently opened Doubletree by Hilton Hotel and Spa. Steeped in history this former Municipal Annex has all the splendour and elegance of a 19th century, Grade II listed building, which started life as the new home for the Liverpool Conservative Party. Designed and built by Francis Usher Holme and his uncle George Holme, the building was completed in 1883, in French Renaissance style.

Engage is not alone in feeling that something is going very wrong with the way our cities are being designed and populated. From experience we have sensed that there is an urgent need to address this disturbing reality. Listen to this:

‘Never before have we, the supremely social mammal, been so isolated. The results are devastating: a collapse of common purpose, the replacement of civic life with a fog of consumerism, insecurity and alienation. We cannot carry on like this.’

George Monbiot, writer, Guardian journalist and environmental and political activist (appearing with Ewan McLennan at the Philharmonic on 20th October in a performance entitled The Age of Loneliness).

We have tried to put together a seminar series that starts with a social and cultural analysis of our experience as residents in an urban context and then journeys through the challenges of how we relate to people amongst whom we live and then how we become more active in engaging with the way our city is governed. This is a journey from being defined simply as consumers, through living awkwardly as strangers, to moving beyond mere consultation. And the destination we will be sketching out is one of a liberating self-identification as citizens, that enables a

1 courageous choice to be neighbours and neighbourly and inspires a determination to work together in a collaborative project of civic governance.

It will be a step-by-step process taking us to a place that we feel will significantly improve the quality of life, and therefore the health and wellbeing, of everyone who chooses to live in the centre of our city. Reclaiming the City might sound a little dramatic to some people but consider what happens if we let things develop as they are doing right now. We seriously struggle to get people to engage with residents where they live, to volunteer to facilitate greater social interactions, to attend workshops, seminars and meetings called to make a difference to the city centre and its neighbourhoods. We have experienced the refusal of the city council to allow a Neighbourhood Forum on the Waterfront despite a huge amount of work in getting dozens of residents and businesses signed up to the Neighbourhood Planning project.

Engage is delighted to be bringing to Liverpool 3 extraordinary individuals from London, Paris and Rome to speak directly to these issues and tonight’s seminar kick- starts a conversation about reclaiming the city as a space for real human encounters and for the genuine empowerment of the civic body.

The structure for each seminar will be the same. I will ask you now to put into practice Gandhi’s words: ‘to be the change you want to see’. Will you just spend a moment introducing yourself to those people around you, either-side, in-front and behind – simply your name and where you are from is enough for now!

Thank you! We will introduce our speaker and then following his presentation you will be given a few moments to share your first impressions and reactions with those around you. Then we will go and ask our panel members for their brief reflections following which I will open the discussion to everyone. We will bring the proceedings to a close by 7.30pm.

Let me welcome and introduce our 3 Local Panellists this evening:

POLITICIAN: Cllr Lynnie Hinnigan: Mayoral Lead for Youth and Citizen Engagement

ACTIVIST: Becky Vipond: Squash Nutrition

ACADEMIC: Dr Alan Southern: Co-Director at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy and Practice and Senior Lecturer in the Management School, University of Liverpool.

2 Please Tweet during the seminar and the hashtag is #reclaimingthecity and we are @engageliverpool.

Finally I want to thank our Sponsor who has contributed to the series – Moda Living - who are a specialist investor, developer and operator of high quality PRS communities.

Now let me introduce our guest Speaker from London - Jon Alexander

Jon is a consultant, professional change-maker and inspirational speaker and is motivated by a strong belief in the potential of the citizen to create a better world. He is the Founder and the Director of New Citizenship Project which is a social innovation lab, established in 2014 to help catalyse the shift to a more participatory society. Previously he worked in brand and marketing at the National Trust where he founded the Wild Network to bring the NT together with the RSPB, NHS and over 100 other organisations to get children back into nature. Before joining the Trust Jon spent most of his career in London advertising agencies and also lived in Zambia for a year working for a small charity.

We first came across Jon at the European Cultural Foundation’s 2014 Ideas Camp at Marseille and we have been close friends and collaborators ever since. We are thrilled to be able to have Jon inaugurate our 2016 seminar series and delighted to welcome him to Liverpool.

Please welcome to the podium Jon Alexander

THANK YOU

Sponsors: ModaLiving and James Blakey Planning Director

Venue: Doubletree by Hilton and Stephanie Penketh, Senior Meetings and Events Coordinator

Panellists: Cllr Lynnie Hinnigan, Clare Owen and Dr Alan Southern

Speaker: Jon Alexander

Marketing, Design and Digital Agency: Nonconform, especially Rachael Biggs but also Tom Woollam and Andrew Weatherstone

Video: Joe Campbell of Culture City TV for videoing

3 Engage Board: for helping to make tonight run so smoothly THANK YOU GIFT AND TASK

10 WORDS booklet: Thanks to the generous support of our Hotel Partner the Titanic Hotel we have been able to publish a 2nd edition of our 10 Words arts project which is an attempt to suggest positive ways that city centre dwellers can take action to become more engaged with their city. Take a free copy home with you, keep it handy and use it as often as you can to aid a behavioural change. We would like to share this booklet with others too so let us know how you would like to help us distribute them to city centre and waterfront residents.

We would like to publish thousands of copies for free distribution that means we need sponsors whose advert we’ll put into the each copy. £750 will print 1000 booklets and £500 will print 500.

Workshop for Residents of Grade II Listed Buildings: Fri Oct 21st 5.30pm at Cunard Building for those who live in The Colonnades Albert Dock; Wapping Quays; Tower Buildings; Waterloo Warehouse. Register on website. Supported by New York University and Harcourt Developers, Stanley Dock.

Local Plan Residents Consultation Meeting: Mon Oct 24th 5.30pm at Cunard Building with Planning Dept. Register on website. Preparatory reading also on website.

Seminar Two will be in a fortnight in the newly restored Aloft Hotel formerly the Royal Insurance Building further along Dale Street and the corner of North John Street. Engage continues to get you into venues that the general public don’t often access! Our speaker will be from Paris and is the renowned founder of European Neighbours Day - an event which has now spread to countries and cities around the world.

Also you might want to consider the George Monbiot event at the Philharmonic Hall on 20th October. Details are on our website on the Reclaiming the City seminar page and under News.

Thank you and Goodnight!

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