6.8+Changing+fortunes,+regeneration+and+re-imaging

=An example of changing fortunes= Manchester was once the centre of British industry. The cotton trade blossomed in this area, once the steam engine was established as a source of power, that led to the establishment of factories around the centre of the city and also along the canal. The Manchester Union canal brought in raw materials and coal easily and cheaply. The damp atmosphere made it a good place to produce cotton cloth. Between 170 and 1820 the amount of cloth produced quadrupled and by a century later was 25 times bigger than in 1820. In the 1830s cotton accounted for 50% of our exports and 80% of the world production of cotton took place here.

As the workers needed to be close to their work and the factories needed to be close to a means of transport for raw materilas and finished goods, the factories where near the centre and the workers houses crammed in close by.

But cities are always changing. Both world wars had a big impact. The textile industry suffered during WW1 as they could not use their major supplier, India but has to source cotton from elsewhere. After WW1, the cotton from India resumed but tailed off as the century progressed, dying completely after India became independent and developed its own textile industry.

WW2 over 70% of the old inner city was destroyed by German bombs. The engineering skills were put to good use making aircraft and weapons. This made them a target for the enemy.

In the first half of the C20 the CBD was the hub of the town with shops, offices and public buildings. By 1950s the centres were suffering from congestion, pollution, noise and overcrowding. Many of the redundant factories and storehouses were cleared to make way for redevelopment. Older building were replaced by skyscrapers. Main shopping streets were pedestrianised. Inside shopping centres were developed. Multi-storey car parks were provided as part of the redevelopment.. Where the old narrow streets remained, one-ways systems altered the flow of traffic. A popular alternative was to permit out-of-town shopping centres, so if they were not to loose out completely, CBDs has to change fast.

The inner cities also needed attention. There were large areas of waste ground – some due to war damage and others due to the loss of Victorian factories. Many of the small rows of terraces were boarded up and unused. Empty buildings were a target for vandalism, squatting and spray paint. It was all very decayed. Those who could afford to move out did, leaving the unemployed and those on low wages. Crime rates were high. The number of old or single parent families and immigrants was well above average.

Redevelopment 1955-75
The first wave of redevelopment was in the 1960s and 1970s. Over 90,000 of the worst houses were demolished and replaced by tower blocks in the inner city and ‘overspill’ communities in the suburbs. The feeling at the time was to provide as many units as possible in a new clean and modern environment. Tower blocks were seen as the answer. The case for tower blocks was pretty clear from the start: slum clearance. It allowed high density (on average 200 people per acre) and the saving of urban land, which even 40 years ago was scarce. A British dwelling that offered better light, an inside toilet and bath, central heating, electrical fittings, cleaner circulating air - all within a dry building set on a landscaped green - might, even now, seem like a thing worth having.

Architects decreed that the sun, not the streets, should determine the orientation of homes. But they made too little allowance for the way people actually live indoors, especially when occupying closed buildings with shared lifts and other amenities. Very soon, those who had wrapped ribbon around their first set of inside bath taps on the day they'd moved in, wanted out - and preferably to somewhere not unlike the place they'd left so triumphantly a short while before. Looking out from a central stair well killed the sense of community. Soon enough gangs set fire to the stairwells, sprayed front doors and went joyriding on top of the lift, shouting abuse and terrorising old people. The surrounding shops and pubs were closed or fortified in the face of serial robberies. The planners began to see the error of their ways. They began to think that the design caused the problems, that the particular type or shape of new blocks might, itself, encourage vandalism. But some others took a long time to learn. One planner in Glasgow is quoted as saying ‘My idea of fulfilment is to draw up the car and see the lights of …a scheme shining out and think of all the families translated from gloom to happiness'. But what did the people say?