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===20th century=== [[File:Liverpool, 1946.png|thumb|left|Liverpool's Lime Street area pictured from above in 1946]] The 20th century saw Liverpool's established rank as a global economic powerhouse challenged. Its strategic location as an international seaport made it particularly vulnerable in two [[World war]]s. [[Economic depression]]s (both in the United Kingdom and across the world), changing [[Housing in the United Kingdom|housing patterns]] and [[Containerization|containerisation]] in the maritime industry contributed to a downtrend in the city's productivity and prosperity. Despite this, the city's influence on global popular culture excelled and by the end of the century, the continuing process of [[urban renewal]] paved the way for the redefined modern city of the 21st century. The period after the [[World War I|Great War]] was marked by social unrest, as society grappled with the massive war losses of young men, as well as trying to re-integrate veterans into civilian life and the economy. Unemployment and poor living standards greeted many ex-servicemen. [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|Union organising]] and [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|strikes]] took place in numerous locations, including a [[British police strikes in 1918 and 1919|police strike in Liverpool]] among the [[Merseyside Police|City Police]]. Numerous [[British Empire|colonial soldiers]] and sailors from Africa and India, who had served with the [[British Armed Forces]], settled in Liverpool and other port cities. In June 1919, they were subject to attack by whites in racial riots; residents in the port included [[Swedes in the United Kingdom|Swedish immigrants]], and both groups had to compete with native people from Liverpool for jobs and housing. In this period, race riots also took place in other port cities.<ref name=Tabili>[http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/840 Dr Laura Tabili, "Review of Jacqueline Jenkinson, ''Black 1919: Riots, Racism and Resistance in Imperial Britain,'' Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2009] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422181418/http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/840 |date=22 April 2016 }}, {{ISBN|9781846312007}}", ''Reviews in History'' website, accessed 13 April 2016</ref> The [[Housing Act 1919]] resulted in mass council housing being built across Liverpool during the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1920s and 1930s, as much as 15% of the city's population (around 140,000 people) was relocated from the inner-city to new purpose built, lower density suburban housing estates, based on the belief that this would improve their standard of living, though the overall benefits have been contested.<ref>{{Cite news|title=A legacy of the Great Depression|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8246000/8246344.stm|access-date=20 September 2023|publisher=BBC News|date=10 September 2009|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185747/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8246000/8246344.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Municipal Suburbia in Liverpool, 1919β1939|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40112817|access-date=20 September 2023|journal=The Town Planning Review|jstor=40112817|last=McKenna|first=Madeline|date=30 October 1989|volume=60|issue=3|pages=287β318|doi=10.3828/tpr.60.3.4hk5074443483k74|archive-date=8 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108060702/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40112817|url-status=live|issn=0041-0020|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Numerous private homes were also built during this era. During the [[Great Depression]] of the early 1930s, unemployment peaked at around 30% in the city. Liverpool was the site of Britain's first [[Liverpool John Lennon Airport|provincial airport]], operating from 1930. During the [[Second World War]], the critical strategic importance of Liverpool was recognised by both [[Hitler]] and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]]. The city was heavily bombed by the Germans, suffering a [[Liverpool Blitz|blitz]] second only to London's.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/blitz/blitz.asp|title=Spirit of the Blitz : Liverpool in the Second World War|publisher=[[Liverpool Museums]]|year=2003|access-date=13 September 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606081949/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/blitz/blitz.asp|archive-date=6 June 2010}}</ref> The pivotal [[Battle of the Atlantic]] was planned, fought and won from Liverpool.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/info-sheet.aspx?sheetId=4|title=Merseyside Maritime Museum, Sheet No. 4: Battle of the Atlantic|publisher=Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk|date=3 September 1939|access-date=4 October 2012|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220910/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/info-sheet.aspx?sheetId=4|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' made 80 [[Liverpool Blitz|air raids on Merseyside]], killing 2,500 people and causing damage to almost half the homes in the metropolitan area. Significant rebuilding followed the war, including massive housing estates and the [[Seaforth Dock]], the largest dock project in Britain. Since 1952, Liverpool has been twinned with [[Cologne]], Germany, a city which also suffered severe aerial bombing during the war. In the 1950s and 1960s, much of the immediate reconstruction that took place in the city centre proved to be deeply unpopular. The historic portions of the city that had survived German bombing suffered extensive destruction during urban renewal. It has been argued that the so-called "Shankland Plan" of the 1960s, named after the town planner [[Graeme Shankland]], led to compromised town planning and vast road-building schemes that devastated and divided inner city neighbourhoods. Concrete [[brutalist architecture]], compromised visions, botched projects and grand designs that were never realised became the subject of condemnation. Historian [[Raphael Samuel]] labelled Graeme Shankland "the butcher of Liverpool".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Unbuilt Liverpool: the city that might have been|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/04/unbuilt-liverpool-city-might-have-been-in-pictures|access-date=20 September 2023|newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 July 2017|last=Dunmall|first=Giovanna}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Graeme Shankland: a Sixties Architect-Planner and the Political Culture of the British Left|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/architectural-history/article/graeme-shankland-a-sixties-architectplanner-and-the-political-culture-of-the-british-left/63B1F4114E777DE29569BCF5035952B2|access-date=20 September 2023|journal=Architectural History|date=2014|doi=10.1017/S0066622X00001477|last=Smith|first=Otto Saumarez|volume=57|pages=393β422|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185745/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/architectural-history/article/graeme-shankland-a-sixties-architectplanner-and-the-political-culture-of-the-british-left/63B1F4114E777DE29569BCF5035952B2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Walkways in the Sky and the Liverpool 'masterplan' that was never built|url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/business/gallery/walkways-sky-liverpool-masterplan-never-15874583|access-date=20 September 2023|website=liverpoolecho.co.uk|date=20 June 2020|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185747/https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/business/gallery/walkways-sky-liverpool-masterplan-never-15874583|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Liverpool City Plan|url=https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/articles/liverpool-city-plan|access-date=20 September 2023|website=udg.org.uk|date=April 2020|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185746/https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/articles/liverpool-city-plan|url-status=live}}</ref> A significant [[West Indies|West Indian]] black community has existed in the city since the first two decades of the 20th century. Like most British cities and industrialised towns, Liverpool became home to a significant number of [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] immigrants, beginning after World War I with colonial soldiers and sailors who had served in the area. More immigrants arrived after World War II, mostly settling in older inner-city areas such as [[Toxteth]], where housing was less expensive. The black population of Liverpool was recorded at 1.90% in 2011. In the [[2021 United Kingdom census|2021 Census]], 5.2% described themselves as black African, Caribbean, mixed white and black African, mixed white and Caribbean or 'other black'.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ethnicity β Census 2021|url=https://liverpool.gov.uk/council/key-statistics-and-data/census-2021/ethnicity|access-date=29 September 2023|website=liverpool.gov.uk|archive-date=18 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918184737/https://liverpool.gov.uk/council/key-statistics-and-data/census-2021/ethnicity|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The ethnic population of England and Wales broken down by local authority|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/may/18/ethnic-population-england-wales|url-status=live|website=The Guardian|date=18 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723001845/https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/may/18/ethnic-population-england-wales|archive-date=23 July 2021}}</ref> [[File:Southern side view, Mathew Street, intersection with Temple Court, Liverpool (2019-05-25 14.35.34 by HarshLight).jpg|thumb|right|[[Mathew Street]] is one of many tourist attractions related to the Beatles, and the location of [[The Cavern Club]] and [[Liverpool Wall of Fame]].]] In the 1960s, Liverpool was the centre of the "[[Beat music|Merseybeat]]" sound, which became synonymous with [[the Beatles]] and fellow Liverpudlian rock bands. Influenced by American rhythm and blues and rock music, they also in turn strongly affected American music. [[The Beatles]] became internationally known in the early 1960s and performed [[List of the Beatles' live performances|around the world together]]; they were, and continue to be, the most commercially successful and musically influential band in popular history. Their co-founder, singer, and composer [[John Lennon]] was killed in New York City in 1980. [[Liverpool John Lennon Airport|Liverpool Airport]] was renamed after him in 2002, the first British airport to be named in honour of an individual.<ref name=fola>{{cite web|publisher=Friends of Liverpool Airport|url=http://www.fola.org.uk/current.html|title=Recent History and Current Developments|access-date=10 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624063000/http://www.fola.org.uk/current.html|archive-date=24 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Airports Named For Celebrities|url=http://www.airportparkingmarket.co.uk/airports-named-for-celebrities/|website=Airport Parking Market|access-date=10 July 2015|archive-date=15 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715155301/https://www.airportparkingmarket.co.uk/airports-named-for-celebrities/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Previously part of Lancashire, and a county borough from 1889, Liverpool became a [[metropolitan borough]] within the newly created metropolitan county of [[Merseyside]], in 1974. From the mid-1970s onwards, Liverpool's docks and traditional [[manufacturing industries]] declined due to restructuring of shipping and heavy industry, causing massive losses of jobs. The advent of [[containerisation]] meant that the city's docks became largely obsolete, and dock workers were made unemployed. By the early 1980s, unemployment rates in Liverpool were among the highest in the UK,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.localhistories.org/liverpool.html|title=A History of Liverpool|publisher=Localhistories.org|access-date=13 December 2011|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509140259/http://www.localhistories.org/liverpool.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> standing at 17% by January 1982 although, this was about half the level of unemployment that had affected the city during the Great Depression some 50 years previously.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gJJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1176,3408501&dq=liverpool+million+unemployment&hl=en|title=Number of people unemployed at three-million mark in Britain|work=The Leader-Post ([[Google News Archive]])|date=28 January 1982|access-date=21 November 2015|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509220751/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gJJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1176,3408501&dq=liverpool+million+unemployment&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> During this period, Liverpool became a hub of fierce left-wing opposition to the central government in London.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29953611|title=The English city that wanted to 'break away' from the UK|publisher=BBC News|date=8 November 2014|access-date=17 June 2022|archive-date=11 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111000034/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29953611|url-status=live}}</ref> Liverpool in the 1980s has been labelled as Britain's 'shock city'. Once the acclaimed second city of the [[British Empire]] which rivalled the capital city in global significance, Liverpool had collapsed in to its 'nadir' at the depths of [[Decolonization|post-colonial]], [[Post-industrial society|post-industrial]] Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shock City: Sailortown, Liverpool|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/on-the-waterfront/waterfront-part2|access-date=20 September 2023|website=historicengland.org.uk|archive-date=8 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208085224/https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/on-the-waterfront/waterfront-part2/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Review: 'Ferocious Love' by Mikhail Karikis at Tate Liverpool|url=https://ymliverpool.com/review-ferocious-love-mikhail-karikis-tate-liverpool/42520?fbclid=IwAR1R9nOwYUklo_JroymFQjgvh5fJRq0C4CB0SX7ncTx0XypO8e8R9EHxoyM|access-date=20 September 2023|website=YM Liverpool|first=Tom|last=Beattie|date=29 July 2020|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185749/https://ymliverpool.com/review-ferocious-love-mikhail-karikis-tate-liverpool/42520?fbclid=IwAR1R9nOwYUklo_JroymFQjgvh5fJRq0C4CB0SX7ncTx0XypO8e8R9EHxoyM|url-status=live}}</ref> In the late 20th century, Liverpool's economy began to recover. The late 1980s saw the opening of a regenerated [[Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool|Albert Dock]] which proved to be a catalyst for further regeneration.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Regeneration|url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/royal-albert-dock-liverpool/regeneration|access-date=20 September 2023|website=liverpoolmuseums.org.uk|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185747/https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/royal-albert-dock-liverpool/regeneration|url-status=live}}</ref> In the mid-1990s, the city enjoyed growth rates higher than the national average. At the end of the 20th century, Liverpool was concentrating on regeneration, a process that continues today.
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