From Suburban Flight to Urban Revival: The Evolution of City Centre Living
Greater Manchester is as dynamic and diverse as it is friendly and hard working. It’s no coincidence that the city region’s population grew by 7% between 2011 and 2021. At its epicentre, Manchester city centre has seen phenomenal growth: almost 85,000 people now live within one mile of Piccadilly Gardens, compared to around 11,300 in 1991.
The city centre continues to draw thousands to live, work and study, a trend so ingrained it would be easy to forget that it has not always been this way.
When and why did people start choosing the city centre as their home? And what can we learn as we look to the future about how we provide for its inhabitants?
As we continue to explore the UK’s housing crisis, we’re charting the evolution of urban living, current trends and what’s next.
How to solve a problem like economic urban decline
Manchester City Council’s 1967 City Centre Map. Source: Manchester City Council
The 1980s and early 1990s witnessed major suburban flight. Our cities were places where people came to work, but not to hang out.
It’s not that councils hadn’t tried to stem the flow: as early as 1967 Manchester City Council’s City Centre Map promoted housing “to combat the effect of suburbanisation”. But economic decline in the 1970s proved too big a hurdle to surmount and the city’s population continued to fall.
Another policy push came in 1988 via the Central Manchester Development Corporation (CMDC). It aimed to attract residents back into the city centre, through a mix of new-build and refurbished warehouses. The CMDC went on to play a leading role in the regeneration of Castlefield where it helped to create a vibrant canal-basin complex.
Plan showing the extent of the Central Manchester Development Corporation (CMDC)
Shifting the narrative towards the rebirth of our cities
Like any new trend progress was slow initially (42-44 Sackville Street, CMDC’s first project, wasn’t purchased until 1991), but where early pioneers took steps, others soon followed.
One of the first developers to bet on the city centre was Urban Splash, whose first scheme was cited in Lord Rogers’ seminal Urban Task Force report, Towards an Urban Renaissance (1999).
Andy Spinosa records in Manchester Unspun how the Task Force viewed the Smithfield Buildings as “a catalyst for entrepreneurial and creative activity, attracting people to live in the area and locate new business”. Towards an Urban Renaissance shifted the narrative, depicting our cities as desirable neighbourhoods, and promoting a European vision of walkable neighbourhoods very much echoing the thesis in Jane Jacob’s Death and Life of Great American Cities.
Jane was an urban planner living in Manhattan in the second half of the 20th century. A proponent of mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods, her approach flew in the face of the conventional wisdom of the time but is now mainstream. She famously opposed a proposed motorway which would have cut across Manhattan, displacing many people and businesses.
Looking back, city centre living felt like an exciting prospect, and something that we wanted to experience ourselves. In the mid 2000s, Euan and I did just that at the outset of our careers, living in Jackson’s Warehouse and Beetham Tower respectively.
The vision takes flight
By now mainstream policy was “two feet in” for city centre living. And so were developers. The early 2000s onwards saw a surge in activity. Warehouses were converted and purpose built apartment blocks sprang up from disused brownfield sites.
By 2007, Manchester had made its mark on the highest echelons of global tourism with this glowing review from the Lonely Planet Guide:
Manchester is the envy of any other urban centre in Europe, a modern metropolis that has embraced 21st century style and technology like no other in Britain.
This heady pace, while inevitably hit by the global financial crisis in 2008 soon recovered, such was the strength of the market. The city centre housing market comprised a range of formats, with a shift away from owner-occupation. Investors turned their attention to the potential of the Build-to-Rent sector and many PRS schemes, such as Local Blackfriars, were brought to market, offering tenants communal facilities and social spaces.
A battle for control
By 2013, the sense of urgency on delivering new homes had reached new heights. The government introduced new permitted development (PD) rights to boost the supply of new homes in our towns and cities. Offices could now be converted without the need for planning permission.
This initially temporary measure did boost housing numbers (and was made permanent in 2016) but also raised widespread concerns about the sub-standard quality of conversions, which could side step the scrutiny that the planning system provides.
It’s no surprise to us that that this relaxation of planning powers was badly received by many councils. Murmurings of too fast and too poorly built were heard. Relaxing PD rights to this degree was too much for some to stomach.
In 2019, to retain control and ensure quality, Manchester City Council extended an initially tight Article 4 Direction, removing office-to-resi PD rights across the whole of the city centre.
The shifting face of urban living
Our cities have experienced nothing short of a transformation and in many ways are unrecognisable to how they looked just 30 years ago.
The latest trend is that of “co-living”, which goes one step further than the PRS model. Co-living caters for a young, potentially more transient crowd with all-inclusive pricing, and an even greater extent of shared amenities and spaces to create more opportunities for building community.
Like the trends that came before it, some are sceptical and concerned about over development. But we see co-living as a useful stepping stone and, let’s face it, if there’s one place where high density development can be accommodated, it’s the city centre.
The question is, how should we be anticipating the demographic and societal changes and what should we be building for the next 20 years?
What will the next evolution be?
Preparing for getting older
The nation has an ageing population.
And while it goes against the grain, getting older in a town or city makes more sense than isolated rural locations because they provide good access to services and, importantly, community.
Yet the majority of new city centre schemes are design with the young in mind, not the old.
For us, this is a hugely important piece of the jigsaw and must be the next shift in urban living. We must keep a future-focused outlook and an open mind. Let’s take notes from how other countries, like the Netherlands, cater for older residents, and plan creatively.
Of course, it’s about providing for all, young and old. Successful neighbourhoods ensure a mix of uses – and generations – and offer plenty of opportunities for spontaneous interactions.
Which is just how Jane Jacobs envisaged it should be.
If you’re looking for expert planning advice for your next development proposal, get in touch with Euan Kellie Property Solutions.
