Clear and cooperative leadership. Hope Street demonstrates how a project can see great success when steered by clear leadership, exemplified by the cooperative and seamless relationship between Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision and Liverpool in delivering innovative public realm design.
Subtlety in public realm improvements is understated β small changes that are appropriate to, and enhance the historic urban form and scale of the street can be very effective. These changes in public realm improvements can also act as a catalyst for wider urban change, promoting cultural and economic value in the local area. Through the reprioritization of traffic management, Hope Street was successful in building a street that encouraged pedestrian functions and ease of movement, creating a safe and friendly pedestrian environment and ultimately shifting attitudes about car use.
Acting as both a destination as well as an important interconnection, Hope Street is versatile in form and function, incorporating mixed uses and integrating urban life in the local area and the city as a whole.
Historically, there appears to have been a strong network of interrelated groups working together in this area, and the recent public realm works have acted as a catalyst to strengthen these working relationships. Hope Street, a truly urban street, is deeply in the urban grain of this part of Liverpool, at the threshold to the city centre.
It runs along an escarpment such that as you cross it, the road falls away before you as you enter the city centre. Great views to the river and the hills of North Wales open up on a clear day. Hope Street has a strong physical character defined by the high quality of architecture, and a high level of interconnection with surrounding streets.
