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Connecting tracks and architectural landmarks: Liverpool's heritage explored (IEEL038)

This module will provide students with in-depth knowledge of Liverpool’s rich railway heritage. As broadly well-known, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (opened in 1830) ran from Crown Street to Liverpool Street in Castlefield in Manchester and was the first inter-city passenger railway in the world. It is important to learn from the legacy of the railway heritage to understand better our identity and culture today.

During this summer school, the students will be introduced to the history of the railway in Liverpool by visiting existing sites and museums and talking to local volunteers. Beyond that, we will discuss the possibilities of how to re-activate Liverpool’s railway heritage by using design solutions and urban design strategies.

This module is designed to give an understanding of core debates in the current situation of the railway heritage in Liverpool, guided by stories with time for site visits and discussions. During this learning experience, students are expected to engage with some key questions and develop their own opinions. We will consider questions such as why the important railway heritage has been largely neglected today. What are the approaches the railway heritage could be actively interwoven with the local community and society in the dynamic process of urban evolution? How do we seek ways to re-activate Liverpool’s railway heritage?

Key areas of study will include urban design, creative thinking and community engagement. These concepts will be interactively and practically explored through case studies, site visits and field trips. The students will gain knowledge to understand better that the physical railway heritage is not just a source of architectural heritage but a bridge through which one investigates ways of engaging the public and local communities and a lifeline connecting the past, presenting to the future towards sustainable, equitable, and active urban evolution.

Module leader: Dr Junjie Xi

Junjie is a senior lecturer in architectural design and humanities. Through research in infrastructure, she developed a focus on the informal settlements in Bangladesh, aiming to provide a better sanitation system for the future. She is also keen on reactivating Liverpool’s railway heritage through research by design and filming.

Aims

  • To develop confidence in understanding and communicating complex ideas in written and/or spoken language
  • To develop skills in research and collaborative learning
  • To provide students with an in-depth introduction to the history of Liverpool’s railway heritage, with a particular focus on contemporary issues and how architectural and urban design methods can be applied to re-activate the heritage that we have today.

Content

The module syllabus will cover knowledge from history, architectural thinking, urban design and policy. These concepts will be illustrated with case studies and engaging with the site visits to enable students to understand the issues in the questions.

Structure

The module will be delivered over a three-week period in six two-hour sessions (four hours per week, total of 12 hours of teaching time).

Four sessions will consist of lecture-style sessions interspersed with case study material to enable group discussions. The Module Leader will introduce and teach the core ideas and concepts for the session before engaging the students in collaborative learning time as smaller groups. Students will be expected to participate fully and actively throughout the sessions, undertaking prior reading and research where necessary to enable them to have adequate knowledge and examples to enable them to participate during the teaching time.

In addition, we will arrange one session as a site visit by train from Edge Hill Station (Liverpool) to Manchester Oxford Road and visit the Science and Industry Museum there. It is expected that students will spend 38 study hours outside of the classroom contact hours on activities, including assigned reading, an optional reading of areas of personal interest, homework tasks, online research and preparation for assessment. Students should be aware that to benefit from the face-to-face classroom sessions fully, the preparation work assigned should have been done prior to the lecture.

Session one: An introduction – Liverpool’s Lost Railway Heritage

The first session will begin with some introductory information about the module, including the aims and assessment method. The focus of the lecture will be introducing the history and context of Liverpool’s existing railway heritage. We will present some research findings from stakeholder interviews to the students.

Student activity: Group discussions and feedback. The students will have an opportunity to work in small groups before sharing their thoughts with the broader class.

Session two: Site visits (walking tour)

The site visit will be arranged by Junjie Xi and presented by Trevor Skempton (Urban Design Consultant to Liverpool City Council, 2003-2009). We will visit Crown Street Park, Edge Hill Railway Station, the Loop Line, and the Wapping Tunnel exit, which effectively offers an informative background to Liverpool’s railway heritage. The tour will start from Crown Street Park and finish at the Arch of China Town.

Student activity: sketching, taking photographs and informal discussions.

Session three: Learning from the case studies

In this lecture we will present some case studies globally to show contemporary practices of how to re-use the railway heritage from an urban design perspective. For example, the high line in New York, Jingzhang railway park (2020) and the adaptive reuse of redundant Southwark railway arches (2022).

Student activity: Group discussions and feedback. The students will have an opportunity to work in small groups before sharing their thoughts with the broader class.

Session four: Implementing architectural strategy and urban design solution

This lecture will introduce the basic theory of urban design and explain what an architectural strategy can be to address the issues identified in sessions one and two. We will invite a guest lecturer in planning expertise from the University to present the talk. The second part of the assessment will be further explained in this session.

Student activity: Group discussions and feedback.

Session five: Study trip (walking tour and train)

Students will take the train from Edge Hill Railway Station (Liverpool) to Deansgate railway station at Manchester (51 minutes train journey). We will follow the historical route in this session and observe the journey. Led by the module leader, the students will visit the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester together followed by a walking tour. We will pay particular attention to the disused Liverpool Road Railway Station (built in 1830) next to the Museum, which is the oldest surviving passenger railway station building in the world. It is 20 minutes’ walk from the station to the Museum.

Student activity: note-taking and informal discussions.

Session six: Presenting the design to stakeholders and communities

We will arrange a poster presentation session and invite reviewers from the School of Architecture, Department of Geography and Planning at the University. We will also invite external reviewers from local communities, such as the Merseyside Civic Society. The students will have the opportunity to present their ideas in groups to the reviewers.

Teaching methods

The teaching approach will include the following:

  • Taught sessions
  • Small group working
  • Group discussions
  • Site visits
  • Study trip
  • Use of multimedia and interactive materials
  • Use of case studies
  • Open reviews.

Assessment

  • Written assessment: One SWOT analysis report of the site visits (500 words) will be submitted at session four (week two)- 50% of the final grade
  • Presentation: In order to answer the question of how to reactivate Liverpool’s railway heritage, the students will be asked to present in groups (of three) an illustrated poster comprising 200-300 words - 50% of the final grade.

Standard University policies apply with regard to late submission of assessments.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

  • Understand and communicate complex ideas in written and spoken language
  • Research a topic and work to present ideas in academic suitable style, including the appropriate use of reference and source material
  • Demonstrate a general understanding of the history of Liverpool’s railway heritage, with a particular focus on how architectural and urban design methods can be applied to re-activate the heritage that we have today.

Skills

Key skills that will be developed:

  • Collaboration and teamwork, through group discussion, activities in class, and case studies
  • Communication skills, demonstrated in group discussion and debate, activities in class, assessed presentation and written assignment
  • Problem-solving, through case studies and brainstorming
  • Time management, through self-directed learning, assessed assignments, analysis and evaluation of sources, critical reflection of theoretical frameworks, historiographical theories and contemporary debates
  • Critical analysis and evaluation, developed through presentation during seminars and assessments.

Books, ebooks and websites

The University Library website provides access to many relevant books and electronic books, as well as academic journals and databases.

  • Connelly, Angela, Michael Hebbert and Manchester Architecture Research Centre. 2011. Liverpool's Lost Railway Heritage.
  • Manchester: Manchester Architecture Research Centre University of Manchester.
  • Miles Pearson and Rebecca Underwood. 2004. Forgotten Infrastructure in a City System (Masters Thesis Design Report).