Regeneration in the Built Environment, Challenges and Creativity; Exploring Northwest Region’s Regeneration since 1995

Entry requirements

Please use this Research Proposal, Personal statement and CV: GUIDE when preparing an application.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

Topic

As the 21st century approached, the Northwest region has witnessed unprecedented transformation. The last 30 years have been a continuous journey of regeneration of the region’s industrial heritage and built environment.

Manchester’s regeneration was initiated, in 1995, with the adaptive reuse of abandoned industrial buildings in the dilapidated area of Northern Quarter and Ancoats. The buildings had been deserted decades earlier, after the collapse of the cotton industry. Attracting investment, by local entrepreneurs, the regeneration spread quickly to the whole of the Northwest: Merseyside, Liverpool and the urban towns.

This PhD aims to trace the journey of the three decades of Adaptive Resue, Creativity and Challenges, celebrating the local distinctive Architectural Heritage that has been given a new sense of purpose. This new purpose has accelerated the region’s growth, wealth and prosperity, and in 2015 it attracted the governments’ ‘northern powerhouse’ initiative for further development. The region’s regeneration is reflected on the Architectural language and Innovative interventions that are continuously emerging in the built environment. These interventions have social and environmental impact.

The PhD’s objective is to identify the region’s regeneration timeline and milestones, understanding how the Architectural fabric has been adaptively reused, and how the contemporary interventions have been integrated in the urban landscape. The research will focus in identifying the successes and failures in the regeneration process, and the lessons learned that can be applied to other regions in the future.

Invitation

For this PhD project, applications are welcomed from candidates with a background in Architecture and Design, Urban Planning, Real Estate, Humanities and Social sciences. Proposals are welcomed from candidates wishing to undertake Architectural research on case studies from the whole region, the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, or/and the region’s counties, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria.

PhD main questions

· How successful was the region’s regeneration and why?

· What are the lessons learned?

· What does the future hold?

Methodology

The PhD research adopts qualitative and quantitative methods. These include literature review of the region’s recent history, archival research of its regeneration, the adaptive reuse of the urban fabric. The research will include interviews of Architects and Planners who were involved in projects over the three decades, practice-based archival research, and visits to buildings and sites. The methods include critical analysis of the findings in understanding the processes of regeneration, and lessons learned for the future. The research would benefit with a comparative study and analysis of regeneration projects within the region and beyond.

Contribution to knowledge.

The PhD critical analysis and findings will contribute to record the region’s regeneration and growth, for the future generations and carry out interviews while the creators, Architects are still in practice. More importantly, the critical analysis aims to contribute to the proposal of a set of urban regeneration and heritage adaptive reuse criteria that would be applicable for the future regeneration of cities and regions.

Fees and funding

This programme is self-funded.

To enquire about University of Salford funding schemes – including the Widening Participation Scholarship – visit this website.