Re-Imaging Manchester
Brief overview of Manchester
Manchester was once the centre for British industry, specifically for the cotton trade, the introduction of the steam engine brought about a new establishment of factories around the centre of the city. This then brought about a mass production of cotton and by the 1830s cotton accounted for 50% of the city’s exports and 80% of the world production of cotton took place there. As there was a need for many workers and the factories had to be in the centre for means of transport, the workers houses were very small and crammed. Although, the World wars had a big impact on the city as they could not trade with their biggest suppliers- India. So the textile industry suffered. After the war the industry resumed but later completely collapsed when India became independent. WW2 had a massive impact on the city because over 70% of the centre was bombed by the Germans- targeted because of the factories there being a mass producer or aircrafts and weapons. In the first half of the 20th century the centre of Manchester was the hub of the town as it had shops, public buildings and offices. But by the 1950’s the centre was suffering from noise, pollution, overcrowding and congestion. Many of the city’s old abandoned factories and storehouses were knocked down and cleared to make way for new developments. Old buildings were replaced by skyscrapers and outdated shopping streets were pedestrianized. Where the old narrow streets remained, one-ways systems altered the flow of traffic. This was a popular was of re-directing traffic to out of town shopping centres.
The inner cities also needed a lot of attention. There was large areas of waste and derelict land