My first FLIPIM: the grassroots regeneration conference
On Thursday I went to FLIPIM , the grassroots regeneration conference, handily hosted in Birkenhead. I didn't really know what to expect, but I felt like my interests were kind of regeneration-adjacent, so it seemed like a good way to find out what's going on locally. Well, it was excellent, and I left with a full brain and feeling much more connected. I met people working on things I'd vaguely heard about or admired from afar ( Kitty's Launderette ! Metal Culture !) and finally figured out what some things I'd heard about but not really understood were ( Kindred ). It was a glorious sunny day for wandering between event sites up around Argyle Street, and including Joy which has only just opened. I didn't move back to Liverpool City Region because of the lively social economy, entirely through ignorance. I now feel even more lucky to be here, amidst so much energy and activity (Kindred track more than 1,500 socially-trading organisations). As the event site s...