Between, Marginal but not Beneath

Writing on the works of Victor Turner in What is Liminality? Charles La Shure* drives toward people and hierarchal forms in society, by saying, "...in spatial terms, they are in between (liminality), on the edges (marginality), and beneath (inferiority)." 

The same could be said of these city-spaces except I would be prompted to mention that with will of community and legal procedure, liminal city spaces can be 'managed' and therefore be removed from the eyesore category and evolved into an alternative spaces that doesn't require much in the way of financial and time input to recreate a 'free space'.

www.liminality.org/about/whatisliminality/*

Oct 2005.*

Dilemmas of space

The spaces that have laid so long echo that ghostly voice of a changed landscape; the problems of industry and investment. The spaces left go on like uncertain pauses and unanswered questions.

Since the mid-1990s Manchester has developed itself as a very strong cultural centre and with its spirit has bounced back into the Northern arena as being an important city as any classy European one with much investment, new industries and strong bonds with corporations and business capital.

Smaller, peripheral towns and cities, like Preston don't have the same clout or force and its for these reasons the challenge of interest and potential investment is less on a relative scale.

Church Street in the city's heart has a list of wastelands and scarred spaces.

There tend to various stages of wasteland. The first I'd consider as 'vacant land' where it is both obviously available for development but also open to interpretation. Whether the idea of entering a site is deemed as trespassing or not it is certain that youths and some younger children will want to explore. Usually the land has remained fenced off for some time. Problems arise from time scales. The next stage tends to be the 'liminal stage' where it feels neither owned nor remembered. Other activity can happen. People pass through, walk their dog, motorbikes get dumped, kids play. It becomes an 'other' space.

In Preston, Lancashire, one site (below) is part of an area that requires regeneration. It was once a Booths depot but has since laid open, although it is one of those rare ones in this case that is awaiting development. Once an area needs regeneration it is difficult to develop interest. Meanwhile, nature returns. 

'Friendship' Social Club, Percy Street

This space was once a social club. This photo was taken on Fujifinepix around 2004.

They tore the building down and it's been a wasteland since (2020). There's a worn path that runs through. These inner city spaces have a different reasons to attract different kinds of people. The spaces can serve as simple short cuts while for others it can be a place to hide things or with less emphasis on discretionary acts, leaving huge TV sets.

The space has been in this state for many years since the club was sold, but what of the land?

The more curious of locations are those that have not changed. One in particular on Church Street, in an area that has been promised regeneration is an idiosyncratic feature of the city's aesthetic. The building that was here has long been torn down to reveal a backdrop of old tiles, still in place. The trace of previous lives here leads me to step aside from this project. I realised it isn't just about economy, aesthetics and redevelopment and more to do with layers and histories.

Apart from the interest in open spaces that has evolved the years, there are three main things that contribute to making it an open ended and ongoing project. Walking with a camera, taking visual field notes is one, double decker bus rides through Lancashire and Google Earth. surprising I have found the latter an enormous help. All these viewpoints let a map unfold.

Locations are vital to understanding the fabric and flow of the city and its make-up.

An example in Preston is where within a short radius or square mile, I found up to ten plots of wasteland. Some were in stages of wild nature reclamation while others were in no doubt due for redevelopment; a proud sign tied to fencing reads: 'To be...'

Deepdale St, now a car park

A view through the fencing on Deepdale St. Deepdale football ground is just visible.