Histories  |  Data  |  Eco-Systems 

Manchester-Salford

“High Investment: High Participation”: The ‘original modern city’, Manchester’s cultural infrastructure has a rich history of civic engagement and culture and creativity is at the forefront of the city’s recent re-branding. The geography of this eco-system includes not one but two cities – Manchester and Salford – and ten local authority areas which make up the Greater Manchester sub-region. To explore particular issues which the boundaries of local authorities present for their inscribed territories, neighbourhoods and ‘service users’ we are focusing on the neighbouring areas of Broughton and Cheetham. These two inner-city areas straddle the boundary between the two cities but each have very different internal geographies and histories of participation of their own which we aim to explore through empirical, historical and participatory research.

Key contact: Dr. Abigail Gilmore, Institute for Cultural Practices, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester

Report: The effect of place and space on patterns of participation in libraries and leisure centres

Previous blogs from the Manchester – Salford ecosystem:

• Discussing the value and politics of everyday participation in second-hand cultures by Dr Delyth Edwards

• Uncovering participation in Manchester and Salford: preliminary interview findings by Catherine Bunting

• Manchester-Salford: Stakeholder Briefing by Abi Gilmore

• Manchester-Salford ecosystem: research update by Abi Gilmore

• What’s in a map? Reflections on the 2013 Connected Communities Summit by Abi Gilmore (see below)

Excerpt of our poster for the Connected Communities Summit, 2013. Click for the whole poster.

Image: Lantern Parade, Broughton, 22 March 2012 – Photograph by Zora Kuettner