Future of our City_Manchester city wall

DO WE REALLY NEED PUBLIC SPACE?

The scheme deals with the problem of, to coin the term 'inner city centralization' a common theme in many British and also post war European cities. I've discovered that Manchesters repeated attempt to reinvigorate the districts of Ancoats, Oldham road and provide a link between Picadilly gardens and New Islington have not been effective. The 'INNER CITY RIDGE' would provide the users with a green link into and out of the city, raised from the streets below.
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There has to be a better way thank building one great building and waiting for the "sheep to start flocking".

We all know that sheep are pretty lazy and unhelpful animals and sometimes they need abit of encouragement. I don't propose to herd people north out of the city center but more so create an attraction so a subconcious herding proccess begins that bring with it economic stimulus to the area and a vested interest in further development and social interaction.

The " CITY RIDGE" would stretch from the M60 motorway, near Picadilly Station along Great Ancoats Road to Victoria station. Ancoats has always been a barrier from one part of the city to the next and many residents have relayed this fact to me. I'm currently in the proccess of this project and would love abit of feedback/presedent

Causes of Disconnection in the Modern, Post Industrial City

The modern city of today is almost a living entity, that is fast expanding, this can have a detrimental effect on inner city environments when urban sprawl gives way to out of town shopping districts, housing and parks. The only governing factor in citizens returning to the city centre area are for business or shopping and often they will only concourse in areas which have been thoughtfully designed to exploit the users willingness to 'consume'. The user becomes simply a vehicle, ipod in ear and unawares of the inner city community as a whole, he or she simply ventures to his/her intended destination whether it be shop or business and swiftly leaves the city. This is a common daytime action for many visitors in todays modern city and more so even in todays Manchester, this argument may be open to attack due to it's generalisation of the populace but the figures and attitudes of the people speak for themselves. Although Manchester does boast a large inner city community, ( the city centre population has risen 300% from the 1990's to 2001 and is currently projected at around 15,000 inhabitants ) these residents often complain about the lack of variety in their inner city spaces along with the sever lack of inner city green space.

Manchester has long be weighted down by it's inner city suburbs where redevelopment is slow and often unsuccessful, this has become more prevalent with the onset of recession in the construction and city development sectors since the early weeks of 2008. Areas such as Ancoats, Collyhurst, Ashton old Road and Strangeways are prime examples of where redevelopment is beginning if not has already failed.

To determine the reasons behind this post industrial 'underdevelopment' it is necessary to observe user activity and to question their attitudes to the city in micro and macro scales. Determining also what the governing factors area in the lack of economic development in these 'deprived areas and why some areas area more successful in drawing some of the development and users away from the city centre. A starting point would be lower Ancoats for example. Labelled as the worlds first inner city residential district in the early 20^th Century it quickly became a haven for squalor and deprecation, this was further brought on by the collapse of the mill industries in this area of Manchester and towards the middles of the 20^th century, further development in this area quickly slowed if not ceased altogether, however towards the end of the century the city council made great efforts to regenerate the area and to a degree succeeded. The reason for it's successes and failures will be discussed in this report leading to the solutions that fundamentally governed the project as a whole.

The report details my investigations into Architectural texts, contextual analysis and program and the resulting argument for form generated from the combined generative statements of each analysis. The studio brief is to create a mixed use hybrid space. The project surround the North Eastern boundary of the City.

My research revealed a number of conceptual arguments relating to 1. my beliefs of modern architecture and the possibilities it posses to improve the life of the user, 2. the approach of the architect towards contextual analysis, program configuration and form. By extracting particular points from each text I created a set of objectives, relevant to context, program and form, which my scheme ultimately revolved around.

My approach to contextual analysis was directed through both studio and my self-generated objectives, enabling me to realise the relevance of previously un-considered aspects of the city on a number of different scales. Researching historic cities and their success as well as reviewing modern theoretical ideas allowed me to arrive at my formative beginnings. My program analysis derived itself from testing and my objectives set out earlier in the project and brief, with a focus on the nature of a hybrid building and conclusive precedents.