Rebranding Manchester: a Success Or Failure?

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GEOFILE Extension 780 Rebranding Manchester: A success or failure?

By Paul Wheeler Synopsis Links This Geofile looks at an example of urban rebranding Exam board Link to specification in the UK. It covers what urban rebranding is and why a city may feel it needs to rebrand itself, or to rebrand AQA Component 2: Human Geography; 3.2.3.1 certain parts of the city. Manchester is an example of a Urban change – de-industrialisation, see page city that has attempted to use rebranding to stimulate 24; 3.2.3.2 New urban landscapes, see page economic growth. 24; 3.2.3.9 Case studies, see page 25; 3.3 Fieldwork possibilities, see page 29 onwards Geofile has covered other rebranding case studies, for Click here example in Barcelona; this unit will allow comparison Edexcel Area of study 2 Dynamic places, Topic 4 of case studies. AS Shaping nplaces, 4.9 a-c Rebranding, see Key terms page 36 Click here Area of study 2 Dynamic places, Topic 4 Urban regeneration, urban renewal, urban A2 Shaping places, 4.9 a-c Rebranding, see redevelopment, de-industrialisation, urban page 32 Click here function, gentrification. OCR Topic 2.1 Changing spaces, making places; Learning objectives AS 5b and c Placemaking and case study, see page 17 Click here After working through this Geofile you should have Topic 2.1 Changing spaces making places; learned: A2 5b and c Placemaking and case study, see ●● what urban rebranding is page 21 Click here ●● why it is needed Eduqas Component 1 Changing landscapes and ●● the impacts of an urban rebranding process changing places, Section B Changing places; ●● about Manchester as a case study of rebranding. 1.39 The rebranding process and players in urban places, see page 18 Click here WJEC AS Unit 2, 2.1 Changing Places; 2.1.9 The rebranding process and players in urban places, see page 23; 2.1.10 Urban management and the challenges of continuity and change, see page 23 Click here IB NA

830921_Geofile_Ext_780.indd 1 27/07/18 8:49 AM GEOFILE Extension ● 780 Rebranding Manchester: A success or failure? What is rebranding? rebranded a number of times cotton manufacturing, when it Why do cities and and has evolved from being an became known as ‘Cottonopolis’. Its towns rebrand? industrial city to one dominated importance at the time was noted by services. The 1996 IRA bombing by Benjamin Disraeli in 1844, who Companies use a brand image to of the city centre made rebuilding described it as ‘the most wonderful create a set of ideas and feelings in there essential. Recently city of modern times’. However people so they will associate their Manchester has chosen to define de-industrialisation due to product with an emotion. Nike’s certain distinct areas within the city competition from abroad during the ‘Just do it’ and Tesco’s ‘Every little and has attempted to create a clear 1920s and 1930s saw the collapse of helps’ slogans are intended to brand identity for each area, to the cotton industry in the UK. By convey particular images about attract different investors and the 1960s, Jane Jacobs, an their products. people to each of the districts, to influential American writer, Cities also can try to project an create a broader appeal. described Manchester as ‘the very symbol of a city in long and improved image. Urban areas The city council has published a unremitting decline’. compete with each other to attract Greater Manchester Strategy with investment, tourists and residents. a vision for Manchester to be a Manchester, like other HIC cities In an attempt to stand out, a Top 20 global city by 2035. today, is facing two main number of cities have attempted Manchester has made progress challenges: to create a distinctive brand identity towards this goal, with the city 1. How best to use the central land (Figure 1). Some have used a being recognised as one of the Top and old buildings which have particular event to try and create 10 world cities to visit by Lonely lost business to other areas. a more positive impression of the Planet. Part of this strategy is to area. Examples include Hull as create a clear brand identity to 2. How to develop a successful European City of Culture 2017. make the city stand out compared economy following Sometimes towns and cities use a with its competitors. de-industrialisation. slogan on road signs, to create the b. Madchester impression of a clear identity. For The history of example the slogan for Poole: ‘Surf, Part of the initial stimulus to rest and play’ emphasises the coastal rebranding in reverse the decline was centred town’s role as a leisure destination. Manchester upon Manchester’s status in the a. Cottonopolis 1980s as a centre of music and Manchester has seen its function creativity. A bohemian sub- Manchester’s growth during the as a city change greatly since the culture had developed around industrial revolution was based on industrial revolution. It has been Manchester’s inner city districts such as Hulme and Moss Side. Bands such as Joy Division and the Smiths made Manchester a popular place for students and young people. Factory Records, the Hacienda nightclub and the rise of ‘Madchester’ as part of the 80s rave scene all reinforced the city’s reputation as a great place for students and other young adults to locate. Mancunians were famously ‘mad for it’. This cultural shift made the universities in Manchester particularly attractive, and the student Figure 1 Aims of rebranding population began to grow. The

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universities doubled in size and the 30 years of deindustrialisation New Islington. Work on student economy was a crucial had severely hit the engineering transforming the former financial boost. Cottonopolis had and heavy industry in the area, Cardroom Housing Estate into become ‘Madchester’. leaving dereliction and high New Islington started in 2002, unemployment. with developer Urban Splash c. Gunchester leading the project. Previously By the late 1980s the nighttime Sportcity. Manchester was the area was characterised by culture had begun to gain a darker selected to host the 2002 unpopular low-rise, low-density reputation, as reports of gang Commonwealth Games, and a local authority housing. The plan violence, stabbings and shootings new stadium was built close to was to transform it into a vibrant became more common. The media the world-class velodrome in east community with a new primary picked up on these crime reports, Manchester. Sport became the school, health centre and a new and Manchester found itself catalyst for extensive regeneration, city marina. The iconic ‘Chips’ rebranded from ‘Madchester’ to which led to the creation of New development of apartments ‘Gunchester’. East Manchester (NEM), an urban (Figure 3) has become an regeneration company created to d. Gaychester architectural beacon and set the attract businesses, homes and tone for other developments. In Many students remained in the facilities to the area. After the 2015, plans for 100 more waterside Manchester area after graduation, Commonwealth Games ended, the flats at Islington Wharf were as they gained employment in the new stadium was converted for announced as the latest stage in growing computing, management use as Manchester City FC’s new the revamp of the marina area and consultancy sectors. One stadium, The Etihad. Located with an urban park, Cotton Field. of the first developments was close to the home of British The park consists of a new body of Manchester Science Park adjacent to cycling and British squash, this water, a 3-metre-wide boardwalk the University. This created demand area has seen great private that forms the main pedestrian for housing, and one response was investment and the development route, an urban beach and several the gentrification of old houses, with of a large new community in the distinctive islands which act as people moving into rundown surrounding areas of Ancoats and the focal point for public events properties and repairing them. New Islington. Developers saw the trend and (Figure 4). started converting the derelict warehouses in the inner city areas, such as Dominion Apartments in what was locally known as the Gay Village – an area around Canal Street on the edge of the CBD which had become a focus for the LGBTQ clubbing scene. Manchester’s reputation as a safe venue for this community grew particularly as it featured in TV programmes such as ‘Queer as Folks’ (1999), and Manchester found itself rebranded again as ‘Gaychester’.

How are different districts of Manchester rebranding today? (Figure 2) New East Manchester – Sportcity and New Islington In the early 1980s, east Manchester was in a state of urban decay. Figure 2 Manchester and its different areas

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largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom following the closure of the dockyards in 1982. In 1984 Salford City Council acquired the site and it was rebranded as Salford Quays. In 2007 the BBC decided to move several departments there. ITV followed and other media outlets soon joined them. The area was rebranded MediaCityUK. It created 10,000 jobs and added £1bn to the regional economy over five years. The Lowry Art Gallery is adjacent, attracting more visitors than any other location in Manchester. The Imperial War Museum (North) is also there.

Financial Quarter Figure 3 Chips building, part of New Islington regeneration. The cranes show An area to the south west of the the continuing construction projects in the area CBD in Spinningfields, this district Source: Paul Wheeler is dominated by high-profile financial and professional services, here is the Manchester Craft and Manchester Northern including the regional headquarters Design Centre, located in the old Quarter of RBS and HSBC banks, and major fish and poultry market. It is run by Located between the city centre and offices for the accountancy firm the city council on a not-for-profit New Islington, the Northern Quarter Deloittes. Financial services occupy basis and contains 19 studios is Manchester’s creative quarter, or 70% of the buildings. It is also occupied by 30 artisan makers of art ‘bohemia’. Historically, the area was home to the Civil Justice Centre, and jewellery. It attracts 80,000 dominated by mills and market the Magistrates’ Court and Crown visitors a year. New bars and traders, but today it is known for Court, which has attracted many restaurants are opening in the hip, independent record and legal firms to set up offices in the Quarter and the area is busy both clothing stores, cafes and bars, and area. There has been over £1 billion during the day and at night. for offering a vibrant alternative to of private investment, which has the shopping experiences to be Salford Quays Mediacity created 15,000 jobs. Spinningfields found elsewhere in Manchester city Previously the site of Manchester (note the reference to the past centre (Figure 5). The largest site Docks, it became one of the first and cotton industry) is now home to 165 commercial organisations.

Figure 4 New Islington free school, Urban Splash apartments, the new marina and urban park and in the background the Chips building Source: Paul Wheeler

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has reversed its population decline and is now a target for in-migrants. The current student population of nearly 40,000 gives the city a median age of 29. The city is predicted to exceed the UK’s average rate of economic growth for at least the next 10 years. It is claimed that 40% of Manchester residents are educated to degree level. Many other English cities look to Manchester for ideas about how to escape post-industrial decline and stimulate services growth. Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council, notes that ‘Between 2000 and 2011 we were the fastest-growing city in the country. Between 2007 and Figure 5 Northern Quarter new bars and refurbishment of older buildings 2012, the number of families went by investors up by 15%, and the number of Source: Paul Wheeler families in poverty went down by 25%. If you look at our economic Graphene City Corridor – Oxford also received a grant to become a activity rate, from 2004 to 2014, Road Academic Wedge ‘Green Corridor’ with tree planting the national change was plus 9%; Oxford Road is an important route and even vegetated ‘green roofs’ in Manchester it was 28%.’ into the CBD from the south and is installed on buildings, to help home to a rapidly regenerating manage rainwater. Failures – Collyhurst: academic sector that contains the Gentrification by University of Manchester and Rebranding Success Developers Manchester Metropolitan University. and Failure? Close to the Northern Quarter and There are over 200 researchers in Manchester has adopted for its New Islington regenerations lies the £61m National Graphene slogan ‘The Original Modern City’. Collyhurst (Figure 6). Home to Institute (NGI) and the £60m 7,000 people, it has the highest Graphene Engineering Innovation There are visual examples of unemployment in the city. The city Institute (GEIC). (Graphene is a Manchester’s investment and council has described it as ‘one of Nobel Prize-winning substance growth all over the city centre. the most deprived areas in the discovered in Manchester 2004, Cranes are a feature of the skyline, whole country’. New flats are used in the manufacture of high- and towering new buildings have appearing, but local people fear tech materials.) The aim is to make been built such as No 1 Deansgate, being pushed out. They point out the Oxford Road corridor a Silicon the tallest all-steel residential that the apartments being Valley-type centre of excellence. It building in the UK, where three- developed by the Urban Splash has been estimated that up to 25% bedroom apartments can be rented company have not been built with of Manchester’s GVA (gross value for £9,000 a month. The nearby them in mind, but to house the added) is generated in this area. Wakefield Street Tower is described more affluent growing student (Gross value added is the value as the ‘tallest purpose-built student population. Local people see generated by any unit engaged in accommodation in the world’. families divided as homes are the production of goods and Between 2001 and 2011, knocked down, and building sites services.) Part of the rebranding has Manchester’s population increased have spilt the local community. involved cars being banned on a by 20%. In 1987, the population of A national charity called Big Local 4 km section of the Oxford Road, the city centre was a mere 300; is trying to establish walking routes with the introduction of Dutch-style now, it is over 11,000. Manchester that will draw together housing cycle and bus lanes. The area has

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estates, and put new facilities into rundown public space. The Lalley Centre, a community facility run by the Catholic church, has seen demand for its food bank double in two years, with up to 120 people a week using this service. At the Manchester Communication Academy, a new secondary school on the edges of Collyhurst, 75% of the students are in at least one of the at-risk categories. The area is yet to benefit from the successes seen in other parts of Manchester.

Figure 6 Collyhurst estate: yet to benefit from rebranding Source: Paul Wheeler

Focus questions

1 Explain why rebranding takes place. 2 How and why did Manchester as a whole rebrand? 3 What distinct areas within Manchester have been rebranded? 4 What are the results of these rebranding plans? 5 In what ways has Manchester managed to change people’s perceptions of it as a city? 6 Essay question: Evaluate the success or failure of recent attempts to rebrand Manchester. In your opinion, overall has it worked?

Learning checkpoint

1. Glossary task. Write definitions for. • Why did Manchester need to do it?

• rebranding • Give three brief examples of where and how Manchester rebranded certain areas and the impacts of this. Precise facts will earn you • regeneration better marks.

• redevelopment. • What evidence is there that Manchester has benefited from these schemes?

2. To help you remember this case study, make brief notes using the following headings: • What still needs to be done?

• What is rebranding?

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