In 1999, a few thousand people lived in Manchester City Centre. By 2019, there were more than 65,000 – and like the cranes, it keeps going up. Thriving, growing, dismantling, reshuffling, Manchester is a prime example of today’s fast-changing cities.
As populations boom in Manchester and cities like it, communities appear and disappear, moulded by the forces of growth and development. What is happening to neighbourliness amid the chaos of urban change? What will city living be like in ten years’ time and should we – can we? – steer change in a different direction?
The performative conference People and Cranes was an open invitation to be part of a conversation about how we live together. Bringing together a diverse range of voices and practices – from performance to activism, economics to planning – it asked important questions about how rapid development is being driven and who it is affecting.
Supported by Arts Council England, the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, the Rank Foundation, Unity Theatre Trust and Slater Heelis.
