Dreams of Helicopter Travel in the 1950s and Liverpool’s Undeveloped Plans for a City Centre Heliport
- Submitting institution
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Manchester Metropolitan University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 154306
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.3828/transactions.163.9
- Title of journal
- Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 111
- Volume
- 163
- Issue
- -
- ISSN
- 0140-332X
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- January
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
-
https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/610692/
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
1
- Research group(s)
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A - Architecture
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This journal article considers schemes for city centre heliports in the 1950s and early 1960s, an aspect of unbuilt transport infrastructure that was widely envisaged would radically improve urban mobility and intercity travel. The work was developed from an exhibition curated in 2012 (Infra_MANC) that celebrated the development of four post-war infrastructural projects in Manchester – two built, two unbuilt, two above ground and two below ground. One of the subjects was an unbuilt heliport for central Manchester which informed this national level study of the government sponsorship of inter-city helicopter travel in the 1950s. Using the National Archives, Greater Manchester County Record Office, Liverpool Archives, surviving documents in private hands, secondary sources and field study, this article uses original case studies relating to heliport planning in London and Liverpool. It draws on unpublished primary archival materials and reveals the interwoven nature of government investment in flight technology and transport planning. The exploitation of the air space immediately above the city provided the potential to solve the congestion on the streets below. The helicopter was a thrillingly modern technology in this period, with its ability to hover and land vertically right in the heart of cities. This research is used by other scholars addressing the vertical turn in urbanism and was the first published work connecting UK policy with urban planning in inter-city aerial transportation. It explains the failure of such initiatives and asks how such modes are now perceived. The research is part of a much wider body of work that explores the landscapes and architecture of post-war British infrastructure and has received funding from the AHRC and Paul Mellon Centre.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -