Two brothers from Birkenhead have launched Liverpool 2056, a project presenting an optimistic and hopeful vision for the city's future over the next three decades. The series of essays and visualisations, published on Substack, explores how Liverpool can leverage devolved powers, economic opportunities, and its cultural and natural assets to move forward.
Brothers behind the project
James Gillaspy, sustainability manager at Future Yard, and his brother Sam, an architecture graduate, started the project about six months ago. They were frustrated with pessimistic views of British politics and wanted to show how decisions could positively shape Liverpool and the country.
James told the ECHO: "When we first started thinking about this six months ago, it felt like there was not much hope in British politics - maybe it is a bit different now - but we wanted to tell a story that contradicted that idea. We think there are a lot of different reasons to be hopeful about the future and to be ambitious and hopefully this can be a start."
Series outline
Part one, released last week, focuses on Liverpool's history and devolution opportunities, a topic gaining traction since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. The next three weekly instalments will cover economic growth, including becoming an energy producer and improving mobility.
The third release, titled 'The Good Life', will explore building on cultural and sporting strengths and coexisting with nature. The project concludes with 'The Dream Quarter', detailed designs for a new neighbourhood in Vauxhall, reimagining unused sites.
James explained: "My brother Sam is an architecture graduate, so we had this idea together to look at what Liverpool might look like 30 years from now. Since then we have been putting together research and talking with lots of different people in different spaces in the city and this is what we have come up with."
He added: "This is essentially about imagining a day in 2056 in Liverpool and Sam has created these visions for an area of Vauxhall in Liverpool that currently has a number of unused sites. He has reimagined them using what we have learnt and we have imagined what a new neighbourhood could look like, rooted in real ideas and real plans."
The brothers say they will "explore the key pillars for optimism, looking at the city's opportunities, including economic growth, increasing political power, building new industries and strengthening existing sectors. Becoming an energy producer, coexisting with nature and ultimately, how this could make the lives of people better. A vision of Liverpool in 2056 – not utopian, but aspirational."
