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| + Digital Territory_Wirral - masterplan [CTW 2010] |
The Wirral has been in a steady state of decline ever since heavy industry began to relocate from its locality. The departure of these key economic, cultural and social drivers left a huge void within the region. Its previous wealth was achieved through the full integration of cutting-edge industrial technologies and techniques into its cultural psyche, which enabled the Wirral to remain at the forefront of global industrial progress.
Could the Wirral regain its industrial-age position as a region of prosperity and affluence if it was ‘plugged’ into the digital world? In order for this strategy to have any chance of success, the Wirral would require a huge overhaul of its digital communication infrastructures, namely those facilitating internet connectivity and penetration. At the present time, the Wirral has some of the lowest rates of urban internet penetration in the country, and is all but by-passed by the current [and projected] digital backbone of the UK, and therefore the world.
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| + Digital Territory_Wirral - UK internet connectivity [CTW 2010] |
If the Wirral’s connective capacity could be massively upgraded it could acquire a share of the extremely centralised internet data capacity of London, and promote itself as a major new European node within the global information network, thereby gaining all the power, wealth and prosperity that this would entail. The objective of this aspirational project is to investigate a potential future for the Wirral, a digital future; one of digital integration with the global information network and a cultural shift towards the ‘e-lifestyle’ of the ‘network society’ – the Wirral transformed into a Digital_Territory.