/ Citymakers - City Knowledge, Knowledge City: Manchester
When university, developer and city collaborate to transform a piece of city, how can design nurture this reinvention?
This third and final session of Citymakers 2023 took place in Manchester a city with a young demographic and one of the highest university graduate retention rates in the UK. Its two largest universities are located side by side on what is now known as the Oxford Road Innovation Corridor, around which in recent years they have been using their considerable clout to drive development that extends into business, research, culture and innovation, shaping the post-industrial city.
In this it seems Universities and City are very much aligned, as highlighted by our first speaker, urban designer Joe Berridge, whose involvement with the city has spanned his whole professional career and has included work with both Manchester’s universities. He described the city and universities as dance partners in support of a civic culture of a unique and compelling quality.
Lou Cordwell is in no doubt that Manchester’s future is science and technology-led, while Paul Eaton is actively involved in designing it. He presented an overview of the University’s partnership with developer Bruntwood SciTech to create an innovation district in the city centre - ID Manchester - of both global and local significance.
Rick Splinter brought a European perspective to discussions having worked to masterplan and deliver buildings on campuses in Delft and Manchester, diverging contexts which nonetheless share a strong contemporary focus on openness and permeability, while Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, Vice Chancellor of The University of Manchester closed proceedings with a reminder of the social responsibilities that fall to any knowledge-based institution that gets involved with citymaking.
