It borders the rest of the Knowledge Quarter to the north, the district of Toxteth to the south, Edge Hill to the east and Ropewalks, Chinatown and the Baltic Triangle to the west.

The name 'Canning' comes from one of its principal thoroughfares, Canning Street, which is named after George Canning, (1770–1827), a British politician who served as Foreign Secretary and, briefly, Prime Minister.

[1][2] In 1800, the Liverpool Corporation Surveyor, John Foster, Sr., (1758–1827) prepared a gridiron plan for a large area of peat bog known as Mosslake Fields, which was to the east of Rodney Street.

With the city's decline in the 20th century, the area grew unfashionable, and much of it became derelict.

The area's changing fortunes over time were explored in the 2018 BBC Two documentary series A House Through Time, when historian David Olusoga researched the lives of the inhabitants of 62 Falkner Street from 1841 to the present day.