Transforming Manchester

Contemporary Manchester exhibits a perplexing mix of both ongoing decline and dynamic transformation.

While the narrative of success is certainly the dominant one in the city, only its most zealous advocates would claim that the work is done, that the deep-seated processes of decline have been arrested and reversed. In essence, the regeneration and restructuring of Manchester continues to be a work in progress.

Certainly, there have been some high-profile achievements—think of the airport, the redeveloped city centre, the vibrant culture-economy—but these sit often uneasily alongside reminders that all is not well in this place.

Problems of localised deprivation, of endemic low pay in many parts of the economy, of political and social alienation, of crumbling public infrastructure remain very real ones, even if they figure only fleetingly in the city’s boisterous narrative of successful urban transformation. Making some kind of sense of this complex and partial transformation is the central objective of these one day workshops.

Transforming Manchester Workshops

The aim of these events is to provide an opportunity for urban researchers at the University of Manchester to share their findings on Manchester and the surrounding city region, they are open to everyone and is free of charge. 

The workshops aim to support an interdisciplinary dialogue on the empirical and theoretical insights that are being generated from Manchester-based research projects. They are organised around broad themes such as: ageing and community; cosmopolitanism, identity and difference; education, class and inequality; governance and regeneration; place-making and design; sustainability and climate change; transport and mobility.

Previous events

See details of previous Transforming Manchester workshops below: