There are a great many academic levels to approach the subject matter of ‘the city’ upon and I’ve had some involvement in several of them. There was my involvement ‘in practice’ within the Health For All initiative which was developed in Plymouth which led to the Healthy Plymouth project in the early 1990's. The Healthy Cities ‘movement’ tends not to be too widely known outside the public health and local government circles that have been the most significant proponent and as it was aimed primarily at these professional groups this doesn't necessarily indicate a failing. My involvement was largely dependent upon the Princes’ Trust having opened the door for me after I’d been on a course, that is the Princes’ Trust Volunteers. I guess I was involved to be, within an ecological perspective that is taken within the Healthy Cities movement, one of the white blood cells within the organism that the project can be and assist with the development of the other cells, or individuals, that function within the larger urban body. Clichés aside, there was to a degree mutually supporting relationships that ensured that those who were there because of qualification, I had recently finished a first degree, were benefiting from the street-culture issues that were brought in by the other members of the group.
On some levels the ‘Healthy City’ is only a fascinating concept which may only appeal to the academics who have an interest in this type of initiative, when on other levels it should have excited the community groups and individuals who may have some connection to it and they may have felt the equality of status that this initiative could have brought through. Each community group given some sense of equality of status as a functioning organ within the city-organism may be failed to materialise within some healthy cities and it’s not been a feature that has really ‘lived’ – most models and theories related to health promotion are lacking in some respects. The world health organisation designation of Healthy City status or accreditation may not mean a great deal beyond the immediate public sector staff who have worked on the many projects linked to the initiative.
On other levels, the city is the economic hub, with some areas in need of area-based regeneration, or a cultural backdrop to a range of cultural activities. It is a location of higher rates of crime and various forms of criminality and disorder than rural counterparts. And it is a competitive unit which forms a large part of a regions economic activity, that are each to an extent in competition with other regions of the UK, Europe and elsewhere further a field. It is an architectural and town planning phenomenon with various levels of action through from community participation to being a ‘design phenomenon’ with skyline features which may infuriate HRH Prince Charles and delight others. It also may have identity which can impact upon the life of virtually everyone who has lived or worked in the city.
There are sociological levels to life in the city that may make rural areas envious and environmental issues to grapple with that may make city folk ashamed. As an academic area the city is a significant social, economic, cultural, aesthetic and environmental phenomenon.
What strikes me most about the potential of Healthy Liverpool is that it does have some capacity to tackle an issue of the esteem that many Liverpudlians may be held in owing to the prejudice held against Liverpool as a crime ridden city or scousers as criminal in nature. There doesn't seem as strong an emphasis on tackling regional prejudice as there is on dealing with racial or national differences and I regard this to need re-examination. Perhaps, there could be reasonable to tap into the local pride that no doubt is strong in Liverpool and carry out a number of innovative community safety initiatives over the year of culture aiming to try to explore why the identity may have been associated with Liverpool and what the costs and benefits of tackling what can be dealt with – may be undertaken. There is an diverse theoretical background necessary to develop this type of initiative but interestingly, from a Healthy City perspective, the city has the resources to heal it’s identity and restore it’s equilibrium. Can they innovate social and cultural change on a large scale and shape the way that Liverpool is perceived on a national and international level over the next few years.
There are some very interesting issues which could be tackled in terms of the colonial heritage of the entire nation through this type of initiative notably the relationship between Britain and Ireland and also the role that Britain, with a particular emphasis on Liverpool, played in the development of slave trading: will the year of culture be used to reunite communities within the city in the manner a 21st century city may need to look to do? While there may willingly be a finger pointed at those from Liverpool over any scouse related prejudice, there could be a scar not on the conscience of the world but on the descendents of the wealthy who may feel some animosity from those who descended from the relatives of those who suffered in the potato famine in Ireland that British action contributed to significantly. Has this led to shame in those who control media images and they still sense resentment from the descendents of those who were subject to maltreatment from their fore-fathers? Are the population of Liverpool secondary victims of British history? Maybe the UKs national media-barons owe something to the likes of the average Liverpudlian and could assist in changing the profile of the city – with the city leading the process.
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