How to give a voice to the many senior residents living in Liverpool's social housing high-rises that are undergoing thorough regeneration?

Between 1993 - 2005, the government agency 'Liverpool Housing Action Trust' (HAT) was given the task to regenerate 67 of Liverpool's tower blocks and to pass each community over to a successor landlord. While investigating the infrastructure and communities of the apartment blocks, they discovered that many of the inhabitants were over 50 years old. It was moreover estimated that only 11 of the 67 blocks investigated would survive in the future, while the rest was expected to be demolished. In 1999, FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology) piloted an Internet TV project with city-wide high-rise tentants in cooperation with HAT. The Danish artists' collective 'Superflex' provided the technical infrastructure and theoretical possibilities of this new broadcasting technology.

As the project was received positively, a group of tenants explored ways of sustaining it in the future. 'Tenantspin' is the name of the project that emerged out of this effort. It produces live one-hour discussions that are transmitted over the Internet using live streaming technology and it provides residents with an opportunity to take part in democratic and cultural processes. Artists commissioned by FACT support residents in the process and hereby provide a strong creative base for the project.

Through the Internet, the 'Tenantspin' project applies artistic and creative ways in order to mobilise people who would normally remain invisible and unheard. In this way it creates an interactive platform for the exchange of ideas, feelings and thoughts about regeneration schemes in Liverpool in particular.

In the past mainly senior residents of high-rise social housing apartments in Liverpool were targeted by the project. Nowadays the project also aims at the wider population of the city.

The project has been running for 8 years now and provides opportunities for training and practice in film, video and new media all year round. About 150 senior residents have actively participated in the project as producers while thousands of people have taken part as spectators of the materials produced. The Tenantspin website contains an extensive range of archived material. The project has grown substantially over the years and today operates city-wide with an extended group of people.

Arena Housing
Patrick Fox (Tenantspin Manager - Arena Housing), tel. +44-151-707-4479

//1999

case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Integration of social groups

Older people