New Urbanism

I recently spent some time in Manchester, particularly around the Salford Quays area. Still undergoing a massive urban renewal scheme I looked at the development under a critical eye. The first thing I noticed was the high quality of design and the attractive public spaces. The second thing I noticed was there was nobody around. So why is that? I found myself analysing the effectiveness of the New Urbanist approach that seems to have dictated the scheme and how successful that approach is to urban regeneration.

In the States, New Urbanism is popular and has been rather successful. New towns built and centered around particular industries etc have all being rather successful according to the articles I have read. The problem with this approach in regenerating a particular part of a city is the difficulty in clusters forming, so the context for the approach must be right. In Manchester this appears evident in Salford. Only a few miles out of the city centre why would the traditionally established areas that provide a particular service relocate? There isn’t much incentive. Yet the development is centered around providing this element of live and work in the one area in mixed use developments. So aside from the Lowry Theatre and the Lowry shopping centre there are no real organic developments. The coffee shops are associated within the shopping centre, the bars are associated with the hotels, the hotels are associated with the offices and at the weekends for tourists to see Manchester United perhaps. It’s only busy in the afternoon. The rest of the urban spaces are empty while people work in the offices that surround the quays. At night people are in their apartments of out in the city centre to enjoy a meal or a drink in the traditionally established areas. It all leaves the development rather devoid of life and activity and lacks any real character.

The services of the city centre won’t just move overnight. But there is only a small population living in the development too. But the services of the city are easily accessible by tram and by bus. I can think of a similarity to the Spencer Dock development in Dublin in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). By day the area is dominated by the people working in all of the offices and financial institutions. Only a stone’s throw away from the city centre, easily accessible by the LUAS tram or by walking. The New Urbanist approach wasn’t working as this live, work and socialise element that it is based upon. Ironically it was the current recession that has led to the Spencer Dock development in Dublin becoming more successful. The reduced rents encouraged bars and coffee shops to open on the ground floor commercial units of apartment blocks. So aside from just having a convenience store and a laundrette there is now a greater variety of services that have developed organically. The location of the National College of Ireland brings another dimension to the area. A young and vibrant student population gives a greater diversity to the area and is now very much becoming an established part of the city. Perhaps the Salford Quays development over time will have the same success but I believe the effectiveness of New Urbanist approaches must be reviewed in the context of urban renewal developments, certainly in Irish and UK cities.

Here are some of the pictures I took in Salford. (I later considered jumping off one of these bridges after witnessing Manchester United’s humiliating 6-1 defeat in the Manchester derby!)