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Acclaimed
filmmaker Patrick Kellier (Robinson in Space) presents The City
of the Future; a visual, interactive map of Liverpool and elsewhere
in the UK that reveals just how little the architectural landscape
has changed in the past 100 years.
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"If
you watch Metropolis, or similar futuristic fantasies... there's
something there that didn't happen."
Click
here to listen
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| Fritz
Lang's vision of the future in iconic movie 'Metropolis'. |
"It
was prompted by the idea that in the 20th century the built environment
didn't change as much as people had said it might or should at the
beginning of the century," explains Keiller.
"The
project is called City of the Future which is a kind of joke- it's
not about our city of the future, it's that we live in THEIR city
of the future."
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"There's
a tolerance of the shortcomings of cities on the basis that
somehow it's exciting, more glamorous."
Click
here to listen
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Modernist
hopes of monorails and sci-fi domed pavillions appear all but extinguished
as the future remains very much tethered to the past; for every
wondrous glass skyscraper there are thousands of poorly built, rabbit-hutch
homes.
Advances
in technology have altered the way in which we live, work and communicate,
yet the physical, urban environment adapts to changes at a slower
pace.
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| Albert
Dock & Liver Building. |
Keiller
shows how silent cinema documents the true evolution of the concrete
jungles in which we live.
The
Albert Dock here in Liverpool carves a black silhouette against
the sky of 1897, whilst churches and ornate Georgian terraces have
since been bulldozed in favour of shopping developments and car
parks.
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Will
Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds become one indistinct mass
- the LA of the UK?
Click
here to listen
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Despite
the new century having stamped its boot print upon the region, still
the granite and marble stalwarts remain. But is all that set to
change?
Demand
for residential accomodation has never been greater. Customer service-led
business is gobbling office space and the Liverpool teeters upon
the brink of a frenzied construction phase.
Perhaps
now, the dozing city giants will face their first true competition.
Roll on the tinfoil leisurewear...
听
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