Urban Regeneration and the Management of Change: Liverpool and the Historic Urban Landscape.

In the decades following the Second World War the once proud transatlantic port and trading city of Liverpool witnessed serious, progressive decline. The city featured prominently in buildings at risk registers, and areas of traditional terraced housing remain programmed for destruction under the government's controversial Housing Market Renewal Initiative (better known as 'Pathfinder'). In recent years Liverpool has seen a remarkable change of fortune. Key monuments have been restored, and multi-million pound projects of inner-city redevelopment are either on site or in the pipeline, including one for the site of the `fourth grace'. Six linked, tightly defined areas in the historic centre and docklands were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004; Liverpool celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007 and is European Capital of Culture 2008. This paper sets out the historical background, recent initiatives and ongoing conservation challenges that confront the historic central and waterfront areas as well as the wider city of Liverpool. It relates threats posed by tall buildings and `iconic' modern architecture to the concept of `historic urban landscape', a UNESCO World Heritage Centre initiative aimed at the protection of urban identity and the management of change at the scale of historic cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]