This week, I walked around Piccadilly, Ancoats and Ardwick. I've not been there for a long time, and the amount of development is huge, but with very few local facilities, as presumably residents will either go to the centre for their entertainment, and shop outside the city. I wonder now how much of 'New Islington' will go up now?
On a plus point, i've visited many European cities where most of the area just outside the centre is full of low-rise apartments, and it seems to work well, so perhaps there is still some hope of building long-term communities, especially if the council, development agencies and developers get a bit more creative about what they build and where, and there's a good mix of homeowners and renters, rather than speculators and empty properties.
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