When I first heard there was going to be a TV documentary about Manchester’s building boom, I was very sceptical it was going to do the justice to the sheer amount of building going on in Manchester and its effect on the people.
Manctopia: Meet the people living and working in the eye of Manchester’s remarkable housing boom.
After watching the first episode I thought it did do a good job. Theres reasonable number of view points from some people living on the streets to a person looking for a multi-million pound 3 bedroom penthouse with great views of the city.
Its of course strange to see where I live in the shots and seeing the backstory of the buildings opposite me in Piccadilly East. Wondering if Ancoats, Angel fields, Ponoma and Salford Quays will make it into future episodes.
Its available on BBC iplayer and BBC two every Tuesday at 9pm
You may also be interested in the short film – SOCAL FABRIC – which looks at the displacement of the south-asian working class textile industries from CRUSADER MILL – http://portfolio.smeech.co.uk/social-fabric – note also, that ‘picadilly east’ is of course a new term, invented by C&C to brand the area – the recent ‘Mancunian Spray’ event was a great example of how developers use the arts to brand spaces.
I hear you, to be fair New Islington was a made up term by developers as I found out when I asked the Taxi driver to take me there when I first arrived in Manchester. It was weird when the council took it on as a tram stop and then it was committed as such.
I guess its trick developers have been trying for quite some time.