URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK The University of Liverpool - Urbed

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University of Liverpool: UDF2:2 - Socio-economic ContextAlt ValleyNorth LiverpoolEastern LinkCity CentreThe University is surrounded by some of the most deprivedneighbourhoods in the country and has an important role inreconnecting these communities to each other and the city centre.HealthSouth CentralSouth SuburbsThe University Campus and the Royal Hospital aresurrounded by established inner city residentialcommunities:To the north, across the inner ring road lielow-density 1980s estates of mainly socialhousing, stretching along the ridge to Everton.To the east lie the historic communities ofKensington and Edge Hill, which are housedin a mix of sturdy late 19th century bylawterraces, 20th century social housing,and their low density 1980s replacements.The terraces of Kensington Fields are to bedesignated as a conservation area, whilethose of Edge Hill may be demolished underthe Housing Market Renewal programme.South of the campus is Toxteth’s historicCanning area of Georgian streets andsquares, lined with townhouses built forthe city’s wealthy 19th century merchantclass. There are also pockets of later infill onblitz and clearance sites. The tenure of thisarea is highly mixed, with high value owneroccupation increasing alongside establishedsocial and private rented properties.On the west side of the campus is a compactneighbourhood of established social housing.St. Andrews Gardens 1930’s ‘bullring’tenement block itself has now been convertedto student residences.The Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation2004 (IMD) shows all of the neighbourhoodsaround the campus to be subject to deep andmulti-dimensional problems of poverty.Poor health is particularly acute, as isunemployment and low income. The campusand city centre are ringed by places in the mostsevere 1% of multiple deprivation nationwide.As the maps on these two pages show, there areclear spatial patterns across the city, with strongclustering effects delineated by sharp cut-off’s.The University has an important role to playin linking and providing opportunities to theresidents of these communities. There hassometimes been a tendency to see these areasas threats and potential sources of crime oncampus. This however must not undermine theUniversity’s role as a bridge rather than a barrierbetween these impoverished communities andthe city centre.12Spatial plans of Liverpool’s ‘Super output areas’ (2004) with thered areas being in the bottom 1% nationally. They show clearpatterns in the distribution of poverty and prosperity. Concentricrings encircle the city centre, with a severely deprived innercore surrounded by steadily less deprived streets, and finallypockets of acute deprivation in the large satellite estates ofsocial housing on the edge of the city.South LiverpoolIncome Education Employment
2:3 - Historic ContextThe University straddles the boundary betweenthe Georgian Canning district, a plannedextension to the city in the early 19th century,and the Victorian streets around Brownlow Hill.The University stands on an area once known asMosslake Fields, which occupied a shelf of landbetween the rapidly growing port of Liverpooland the village of Edge Hill. In the 19th centurythis area was selected for a major plannedextension to the city. The Corporation Surveyor,John Foster, laid out planned neighbourhoods ofwell proportioned streets and squares (such asAbercromby Square and Falkner Square) to theeast of the city. This area became an affluentresidential neighbourhood for the city’s elite.To the north, however, the Georgian housinggave way to a teeming working class districtwith a mix of townhouses and smaller terracesinterspersed with places of worship, pubs, smallfactories, schools and shops. Parts of the areawere stained black from the thick black smokebillowing from the open railway cuttings. Thearea became a location for some of the city’smain institutions, including the vast and fearsomecity workhouse that at one time was home tofive thousand unfortunate souls. A more positivecontribution was made by the Royal Infirmaryopened in 1890 and a few years earlier in 1881by the University College on Brownlow Hill.The University in the iconic Victoria buildingwas the very essence of the ‘red brick’ seat oflearning. Over the 20th century the two linkedinstitutions of hospital and University expandedand consolidated, gradually coming to define thispart of the city.The creation of a formal campus was agreedafter the second world war, when much of thecity was in need of rebuilding following the blitz.The architect and professor Lord Holford wasresponsible for the masterplan that eventuallyemerged, and for the design of the RoyalLiverpool University Hospital. Holford’s planwas bold and ambitious, but dismantled thestrong 19th century grid and the diverse uses itcontained, with profound impacts on movement,townscape and activity.A mid 19th century aerial view of Liverpool from the south. Abercromby Square is in the centre on the far right.13
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URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK The University of Liverpool - Urbed

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