Part of the Livable Cities Series
Held at the University of Salford, Manchester
Abstracts: 1st April, 2026 (Final Deadline)
Call
Some 25 years ago Richard Rogers proposed an urban renaissance for cities across the UK. Picking up on this idea, this conference expands it to cities globally and argues that to understand any city, its present and its possible futures, it is necessary to understand its past. Interested in how cities internationally reflect this, the conference uses the host city as a typical example.
In the early 2000s the ‘modern renaissance city’ of Manchester was seen as a prototypical post-industrial city. Considered the birth place of the industrial revolution, it is also the place the atom was first split, and the city in which Rolls Royce was founded in 1904. As such it lays claim to being one of the UK’s most important historic locations.
However, it is also central to the contemporary UK economy and has been branded a ‘Northern Powerhouse’. Add to this its celebrated cultural scene, today, it lays claim to being global in its reach, influence and outlook.
Using the experience of Manchester as an example then, this strand of the conference, CRITIQUING THE URBAN RENAISSANCE, is interested in examples of architectural and urban history in their own right, but also how they inform the present and potential futures of our cities.
Organisers
University of Salford, Manchester, AMPS, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UCL Press.