Rebuilding the Entrepreneurial City: The Master Planning Response to the Bombing of ManChester City Centre

Abstract

The challenge for managing urban change is to identify ways in which to build up a capacity for governance and for capturing opportunities, the active construction of arenas for informed policy debate, and the development of a coherent local view on the process of “place-making”. Such considerations were brought into sharp focus by the bombing of Manchester City Centre and the destruction of its commercial core in June 1996. The paper focuses on the impact of this disaster for the promoting of the city's entrepreneurial credentials, and the rapid response to the challenges of rebuilding. The promotion of established collaborative arrangements and network linkages culminated in the rapid emergence of both a master plan and an implementation agenda, encompassing a range of programmes and projects that collectively aim to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of the core.