I was in both Liverpool and Manchester last weekend and took the opportunity to walk around both.
Over the last 40 years Manchester has changed dramatically, sometimes not always for the better but, in general, in the post bomb period the redevelopment in the centre has given the city a better feel.
Liverpool, after a a truncated building boom in the early 1970s, stagnated. Only now is the city pulling itself out of decades of a poor reputation in just about every department. The amount of cranes, new buildings and the air of confidence has to be experienced to be believed. Whilst all this has come late - and the work hasn't been finished in time for the Capital of Culture year, the scale of redevelopment and its execution, especially along the waterfront, is stunning.
It has long been said that a river or lake front makes for a great city and Liverpool has re-found the truth of this and has added, and is adding, to the gems of the MD+HB, Cunard and Royal Liver buildings in superb style and on a scale and use of space not often seen in UK cities - and certainly not in Manchester.
The waterfront area will give Liverpool a large, accessible and user friendly focal point. The area around the Shambles and Corn Exchange and Piccadilly Gardens apart which are rather small, Manchester lacks a focal point and, unlike Liverpool which will have a superb frontage when viewed fron the Mersey or the Wirral, lacks a view which gives the visitor and Mancunian alike a stunning vision of the city.
We can't change geography but what do you think can be done, or perhaps could have been done, in Manchester to provide a focal point and a view which would sum up Manchester in the eyes of the world?