The People’s Pier: Popular Culture, Heritage, and Contested Community Spaces

In this paper we discuss tensions around the notion of heritage and popular culture as they emerge in the research context of the people’s pier project. Such tensions include competing interests and value systems of a professional heritage management approach (such as that of the pier organisations) and the ‘fan’ approaches of grassroots interest groups or networks; furthermore tensions around what aspects of the pier’s history are valued and preserved; and tensions around competing uses of the pier (including prescribed and non-legitimate uses of the space). The concept of the community pier brings these tensions into play. The project investigates community piers as an emerging form of community hubs. It focuses on two related aspects of the pier and community connectivity; first how communities of place may be strengthened in their confidence by taking collective action to safeguard a local heritage asset like the pier and second how the community pier and its popular culture heritage can be utilised to build positive relationships across different groups and empower the community. However, regeneration processes are complex and not always inclusive; they can be both divisive and inequitable. The project will therefore also explore processes of disconnection and conflict around the pier as a community space.