With Christmas just over, and with the benefit of some enforced annual leave, the office has been closed for the week so I thought I'd knuckle down to sort out some admin matters.
The posting below was something I added to the Forum for the Future web site following a UK wide report on sustainable cities. This ranked Brighton top and Liverpool twentieth out of twenty. You will see that I don’t agree with the analysis at all. I know both places well so feel qualified to add something to the debate. My posting was made on 25 October, so apologies for the delay in adding it here, but I have just today found an old email where I'd pasted the comments to a friend. Thus I reproduce my comments exactly as I wrote them: -
The sustainable cities index - Re Bottom and Top
I work in Liverpool and had family in Brighton. I know and love both. BUT have you tried to drive in Brighton? It is clogged beyond belief with cars. It has nice parks and a seashore, and much good facadism, but is the substance underneath that good? If yes; how come so many of its residents commute to London?
Liverpool on the other hand has the lowest ratio of car ownership and highest ratio of bus use in the UK. OK, poverty has much to do with this but City centre traffic is light.
Liverpool also has the most efficient rail network in the UK outside the Isle of Wight, and did all that it could to deliver a new tram network until HM Gov restricted its funding support.
It has a progressive unitary waste collection network and the Mersey is now one of the cleanest rivers in the UK, with plans for a tidal electricity barrage to support the two massive windfarms that reside off shore. It also has several cutting edge environmental buildings. So what were the researchers looking at when they came here?
Yes, we have some complex social issues, but there is no way you can compare a small provincial seaside town with a large metropolitan city. Take this into account and Liverpool tops Brighton every time.
This last sentence is something of an innuendo, given the gay abandoned nature of Brighton! It was mischievous rather than malicious, but I was pleased to see it passed the web sensors
My original posting can be found on the following website
http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/node/886
It says a lot about scientific rationality that factors such as those I refer to are somehow irrelevant in a scientific analysis of sustainable places.
I could have also added how much of Liverpool’s historic capital is still around today. In other words the City's historic capital well sunk as far as future value is concerned as much of it remains and is still used. This is a reference to Liverpool's historic city centre building stock. Despite Luftwaffe devastation, much of this survived the fads and fashions of the 1960’s and 1970’s, that elsewhere in the UK saw the destruction of many old city centre buildings and their replacement with monolithic shopping malls, precinct commercial districts, and stilted urban motorways.
I might also have added how Liverpool used the tide and wind as the basis of its maritime and commercial success and added that a City of expansive movement requires systems of expansive movement, and thus the Liverpool area saw the initiation of the world's earliest commercial canals, passenger railways, and urban trams. I know we can’t use the past to assure the future, but we need the past to understand the present, and Liverpool today is doing as much as anywhere to go beyond this and consider a sustainable future
Friday, 28 December 2007
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Apologies for sloppy blogging
What can I say? It’s over 2 months since I last blogged. It’s not for a lack of desire; rather a lack of time. All was going well until a trip to Germany some three days after my last entry. Since then, my activity has waned. Badly......
It’s not been for a lack of desire. Rather it’s been a combination of circumstances. So in between last blog and new blog, there was been a nice 2 week holiday in Bavaria, and lots of activity surrounding Rugby Union and Rugby League. There’s also been a lot happening in my personal life, related to aspirations and thinking. Some of which may hopefully lead to pastures new. Then there is the opposite side of this, namely the burden of running a large listed house. Basic stuff like insurance needs, and utility management become so complex, its almost not worth bothering. I will post on some of this in due course. Then there has been family happiness. For example phoninghome to find my six year old, Sophie, answering. The first time she's ever done this, so nice it was me calling. Then for all the positive like this, theres the grim reality of a family illness as life does its ebb and flow thing over and through ones beach defences.
Its good to be back tho!
It’s not been for a lack of desire. Rather it’s been a combination of circumstances. So in between last blog and new blog, there was been a nice 2 week holiday in Bavaria, and lots of activity surrounding Rugby Union and Rugby League. There’s also been a lot happening in my personal life, related to aspirations and thinking. Some of which may hopefully lead to pastures new. Then there is the opposite side of this, namely the burden of running a large listed house. Basic stuff like insurance needs, and utility management become so complex, its almost not worth bothering. I will post on some of this in due course. Then there has been family happiness. For example phoninghome to find my six year old, Sophie, answering. The first time she's ever done this, so nice it was me calling. Then for all the positive like this, theres the grim reality of a family illness as life does its ebb and flow thing over and through ones beach defences.
Its good to be back tho!
Monday, 13 August 2007
Llangollen - Of place and technology
I have just returned from a long weekend in Llangollen. I love the place and the family visits regularly and rents a small town house from friends. To those unfamiliar, it’s a small Welsh Town on the River Dee, famed for its scenery, international eisteddfod, canal, and steam railway. Nice people too. It’s a place to escape to for relaxation and contemplation, such is the calm and beauty. It’s also a place for adventure and boasts fantastic white water sports, hiking, and mountain biking. In fact I cycled the 30 miles to get there on a fat tyred mtb from Birkenhead, up and over the beautiful Horseshoe Pass. Its tough, but great biking terrain.
It’s a place in tune with its environment. Somewhat different to Liverpool or Birkenhead. It stretches along the valley, and occasionally creeps vine-like up the steep wooded slopes towards places beyond, that are oblivious and remote from the closed valley. The towns’ character is derive from the geography and the local slate, rock, and rich red brick. It has many honest and attractive buildings and a busy retail core of interesting small businesses. There are great restaurants and in the Corn Mill perhaps one of the most scenic pub/restaurants in Britain. Go, if you don’t believe me. Its streets are tight and neat, and give no quarter to cars in either fluidity of movement or parking. So get there early, stay late, and be in no rush.
It was a multi generational family affair, with family arriving from several directions. The house has no TV and is low tech, but it was interesting to see the amount of technology amassed between us. There were mobiles, sat navs, a DVD player, and a PDA. I may have missed more, but it’s amazing how cheap such gear is, relative to the price of energy to power it. The gear seemed important for our visit, and perhaps our lives, but none is as important as being able to self-organise, make decisions, and communicate. Useful tools yes; but secondary to other values.
Llangollen was a wild place once; witness its amazingly romantic castle ruin, and technology helps us get there, keep us in touch, and be entertained. The castle symbolises power and whilst technology empowers it can isolate and create dependency. It is certainly true that social networking in the 11th and 12th Centuries was different to today when rivers and mountains were barriers to interaction.
It’s interesting to observe how different generations use technology and to gauge its impacts on society and community. The young embrace technology, and seek to exploit it. The old try to rationalise it. There is a massive void between the two. Expectations between generations were always different but in terms of technology as lifestyle and image, I doubt the gap has been wider.
Its relevance is also interesting. My father grew up in a rural South Shropshire farmstead with well water, and no electricity until the late 50’s. So technology has a different meaning to him. Its about amenity and leisure. My mum on the other hand likes gadgets. She’s graduated to a sat nav and a PC but requires occasional help from her grandson. Old versions are fine, as to upgrade defies thriftiness and is wasteful. She buys basics. Her influence on me is that I try to recycle my old stuff, but I am well aware that more people just bin it.
Usability and reliability are important to us all, so with two cars and a trip to Barmouth proposed, we seemed to be in good stead for the day ahead. But navigating out of a busy Saturday morning Llangollen where it is awkward to stop and wait in a convoy is a challenge to anyone, and we became separated. With technology initially failing to solve the problem, a blame culture arose, but eventually signals and family were reconnected.
So whilst technology can help find where you are, it does not necessarily reveal who you are, that is until it all goes wrong and we are reduced to an anxiety state. Meanwhile spending time in a place like Llangollen helps find who you are, and even allows reflection on where you might go in the longer term.
It’s a place in tune with its environment. Somewhat different to Liverpool or Birkenhead. It stretches along the valley, and occasionally creeps vine-like up the steep wooded slopes towards places beyond, that are oblivious and remote from the closed valley. The towns’ character is derive from the geography and the local slate, rock, and rich red brick. It has many honest and attractive buildings and a busy retail core of interesting small businesses. There are great restaurants and in the Corn Mill perhaps one of the most scenic pub/restaurants in Britain. Go, if you don’t believe me. Its streets are tight and neat, and give no quarter to cars in either fluidity of movement or parking. So get there early, stay late, and be in no rush.
It was a multi generational family affair, with family arriving from several directions. The house has no TV and is low tech, but it was interesting to see the amount of technology amassed between us. There were mobiles, sat navs, a DVD player, and a PDA. I may have missed more, but it’s amazing how cheap such gear is, relative to the price of energy to power it. The gear seemed important for our visit, and perhaps our lives, but none is as important as being able to self-organise, make decisions, and communicate. Useful tools yes; but secondary to other values.
Llangollen was a wild place once; witness its amazingly romantic castle ruin, and technology helps us get there, keep us in touch, and be entertained. The castle symbolises power and whilst technology empowers it can isolate and create dependency. It is certainly true that social networking in the 11th and 12th Centuries was different to today when rivers and mountains were barriers to interaction.
It’s interesting to observe how different generations use technology and to gauge its impacts on society and community. The young embrace technology, and seek to exploit it. The old try to rationalise it. There is a massive void between the two. Expectations between generations were always different but in terms of technology as lifestyle and image, I doubt the gap has been wider.
Its relevance is also interesting. My father grew up in a rural South Shropshire farmstead with well water, and no electricity until the late 50’s. So technology has a different meaning to him. Its about amenity and leisure. My mum on the other hand likes gadgets. She’s graduated to a sat nav and a PC but requires occasional help from her grandson. Old versions are fine, as to upgrade defies thriftiness and is wasteful. She buys basics. Her influence on me is that I try to recycle my old stuff, but I am well aware that more people just bin it.
Usability and reliability are important to us all, so with two cars and a trip to Barmouth proposed, we seemed to be in good stead for the day ahead. But navigating out of a busy Saturday morning Llangollen where it is awkward to stop and wait in a convoy is a challenge to anyone, and we became separated. With technology initially failing to solve the problem, a blame culture arose, but eventually signals and family were reconnected.
So whilst technology can help find where you are, it does not necessarily reveal who you are, that is until it all goes wrong and we are reduced to an anxiety state. Meanwhile spending time in a place like Llangollen helps find who you are, and even allows reflection on where you might go in the longer term.
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
First Posting
At last, a long promised treat to myself, and perhaps others on what I do and what I experience in the wonderfully complex city of Liverpool.
I hope to use this site to post a few narratives on my experiences here and to possibly mobilise a few responses. I believe in open source, the creative commons, bottom up ideas, networking, emergence, and alike. So perhaps this medium will allow my thoughts to develop and grow. We will see. I aim to discuss the mundane as much as the profound, so watch this space.
Cody
I hope to use this site to post a few narratives on my experiences here and to possibly mobilise a few responses. I believe in open source, the creative commons, bottom up ideas, networking, emergence, and alike. So perhaps this medium will allow my thoughts to develop and grow. We will see. I aim to discuss the mundane as much as the profound, so watch this space.
Cody
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