The goal of the research for the MMU course ‘Popular Urban Cultures’ aims to analyse the given online image of Manchester from the first page of google findings. In order to find the most objective results we used computers in Romania, Belgium, Luxemburg, Greece and Croatia. Eight common websites of every country on the first page will be analysed.

Analyzing the different results based on Google ranking, it can be easily outlined that the results about the city of Manchester are more or less the same among the different countries that we studied. The main webpages that are always appearing in the first Google results are Wikipedia, Google maps, Visit Manchester webpage, Manchester UK guide, Manchester United official website, Manchester airport webpage, Manchester online webpage and the City of Manchester NH official website.

Observing the variety of the results, we can tell that the target groups of the above websites are including visitors and tourists as well as citizens and private companies/organisations interested in the city of Manchester. The latest news, together with a variety of cultural, music, sport and other types of events are presented in these websites as well as further information about best places to visit, nightlife, job opportunities, accommodation and public transport in Manchester.

All the websites are translated in many different languages and are designed to function simply and attract their visitors. They all have links to other social media like Facebook and Twitter and a number of them are including online shops for the users. Webpages such as the one of Manchester United Football Club is designed particularly for its supporters and is including fanzone and online official membership. We should also refer to the City of Manchester NH official webpage that is for the very first time referring to Manchester, the largest U.S state of New Hampshire.

In general terms, Manchester is constructing a profile of a sport as well as business/conference and international city in the region. Being represented by the websites that we analysed, it can be seen as a global city providing links, connections and services to the rest of Europe therefore being seen as a popular destination for many different categories of visitors and citizens. It is also easily linked to the rest of Europe while providing job opportunities by being linked to the international market. Its cultural field together with it sports scene makes it interesting and popular destination and as a consequence its tourism is boosting and the number of newcomers is increasing.

The current marketing strategies of Manchester are developed around the two big marketing companies, CityCo and Marketing Manchester. In the following lines, the two companies will be presented on the basis of the pieces of information found online on their official websites, www.cityco.com and www.marketingmanchester.com.

CityCo is an independent, non-for-profit organization which focuses on the promotion of Manchester’s city centre only. Its aim is to make the city centre a more dynamic and interesting area, but also an accessible place to visit and develop businesses. They deliver a series of projects in a very vast range of sectors and for the years 2009-2012 the organization developed a strategic plan.

As activities, in 2011, CityCo took part in the I Love MCR campaigns – and organised the N4 LOVES U Festival as part of the campaign – and the MCR Loves February initiative, in collaboration with Marketing Manchester and Manchester City Council. Again related to the I Love Manchester campaign, Marketing Manchester launched a ‘We Love MCR day’. In 2012 CityCo wants to start new projects: Heart of Manchester BID and Manchester Garden City (Waterways) and Animating the City.

Marketing Manchester, founded in April 2004, is the agency which promotes the city on a national and international stage and their aim is to develop the whole Manchester city-region. They opened an office in Manchester and in New York as well. The agency is known also for its division, Visit Manchester, founded in January 2008. Whilst Marketing Manchester is the tourist board for Greater Manchester, Visit Manchester houses all of the tourist board functions. Compared to CityCo which wants to connect locally by strengthening relationships across the city and between Manchester and Salford, Marketing Manchester wants to connect internationally.

They want to increase the interest in Manchester as a city and attract more visitors through the creation of a world-class events programme. By ensuring that Manchester is further established as one of Europe’s leading business destinations, Marketing Manchester’s objectives intersect with CityCo’s. At the moment, Marketing Manchester has eight main projects in progress: MCR Loves February, Soccerex 2012, MIPIM 2012, Manchester Conference Partnership 2012, Great Days Out 2012, Manchester Live 2012, International Confex 2012 and Manchester Image and Video Bank.

Manchester has a positive on-line image, but not a clear one. All the companies and websites have their own aims for the city and generally there is no reflection on strategies on the websites, there is no straight-forward plan for its image development. Although the city is using three of the four different uses for repositioning cities – iconic structures (the Urbis/future National Football Museum and the Beetham Tower), mega-events (the Commonwealth Games in 2002) and heritage mining (Castlefield) -, these uses are not clearly marked on the websites we analyzed and not even by the marketing companies. Besides this, Marketing Manchester and CityCo are nowhere to be found on the first page of Google results.

This gives the impression that their role is unknown. And except for the Visit Manchester webpage (www.visitmanchester.com), no other websites from the first Google results mention Marketing Manchester and CityCo, so the collaboration between the actors in the city is weak. In addition, on the main page of Google results, there is no reference on a website dedicated to the citizens of Manchester, United Kingdom. But there is one for Manchester, New Hampshire, USA citizens. The only website where people can find documents and important information on Manchester, UK is the City Council’s (www.manchester.gov.uk).

So what should finally be done? Manchester should have its own clear definition. All the actors mentioned above should come to a conclusion on the thematisation of the city and a general webpage for vistors and new persons in town has to be made because for the moment people have to surf on different webpages to gather all the necessary pieces of information on Manchester. Another suggestion is that the two marketing companies should make their names more known around the city. They are dealing with a lot of different projects, but most of the times people tend to know the general concept of this work and not the companies behind them, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but for a company’s website to be more visited, people have to relate names with activities.

Ioanna Sakellaraki, Julie Metzdorff, Simona Balan

Our research consisted mainly of desktop research because of the difficulties we encountered in getting in contact with urban explorers, as was previously stated. We did have one interview with Tim Edensor, lecturer in Human Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University and have sent several emails to other academics with an interest in urban exploration. These are Martin Dodge, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Manchester; Mark Banks of Open University; Paul Dobraszczyk, lecturer at University of Manchester; and Bradley L. Garrett, PhD student at University of London. To get a more detailed view of the field and the act of urban exploration itself, we got in touch with an anonymous participant of urban exploration and with student and urbex-member Leigh Jones. Both of them have given us information on literature and contacts in the field.

The next step of our research was mostly focused on research sources. The lack of literature about urban exploration and the importance of the internet as a means of communication for urban exploration pointed us in that direction. We found that there are hundreds of websites dedicated to urban exploration. Some are fairly general; others focus on a certain type of building/infrastructure or on certain places. Some of these websites show predominantly pictures, others use urban exploration as a way to find out more about the history of the buildings/infrastructure (e.g. sub-urban.com) or give an introduction on urban exploration. Many of these websites are forums and are used as a place to exchange ideas and experiences. The most active and qualitative forum for the United Kingdom is 28dayslater.co.uk.

Based on the internet research we managed to get an insight of the urban exploration scene in Manchester. It seems to be quite active and especially interested in underground explorations and in climbing on rooftops and cranes. The most popular location is without a doubt the Victorian Arches in the surrounding of the Cathedral of Manchester. These arches were built in 1838 and functioned as work places for merchants. During the Second World War, they were used as shelters. No they are frequently being visited by urban explorers and one of them calls it the best urbex site of Manchester. Only in 2012, 10 reports about the Victorian Arches have been posted on the forum 28dayslater. Keeping in mind that certainly not every urban explorer also posts reports on this forum, there is no doubt that this location is very popular among urban explorers.

Pictures of urban exploration tours in Manchester often show quite big groups. It seems thus that the Manchester urban exploration scene is not only a virtual community, but that they also meet each other on the field. Furthermore, they seem not to care too much about anonymity, since they are recognizable on most of the pictures. This is contradictory to the majority of urban explorers, although they all have a nickname.

To visualize the urban exploration possibilities in Manchester, we have created an alternative map for Manchester. By doing this we want to provoke different questions: Is urban exploration still a subculture or did it become part of the mainstream? Is it merely a hunch for a different kind of aesthetics or do urban explorers really provoke the ideas of the commodification of our societies in general? Do only “real” urban explorers have the right to explore these spaces? What creates the image of a city? The monuments and shops or the derelict buildings that tell a different story?

Based on the forums 28dayslater and NorthWest Exploration Forum and some photo blogs, we selected different locations in Manchester and linked them to the pictures. To our surprise, these locations were not mainly situated on the borders of the city, but in the very centre of Manchester. This has partly to do with the popularity of underground and rooftop exploration in Manchester. Derelict (industrial) buildings are often to be found on the fringes of cities, while sewers and tunnels run throughout the whole city, and the same is of course true for rooftops.

Urban exploration Manchester weergeven op een grotere kaart

This map brings some interesting questions to the fore. First of all, the invisible is made visible. This map can encourage people to look differently at a city and to think about what would be behind facades. Secondly, it shows that the inner city is more than just monuments and shops. It seems to counter the commodification of city centers. It is also about a different use of the city, not as a place of consumption, but as a place of discovery, excitement and exploration. On the other hand, one can also wonder if urban explorers really provoke the ideas of the commodification of our societies in general or if urban exploration is just a hobby, although a special one. Probably the second will most often be the right motivation, but this does not mean that urban exploration cannot raise awareness about the commodified city.

Although, in the end we weren’t able to ‘experience’ urban exploration ourselves, we feel like we’ve got a pretty good insight to the nature of this phenomenon. The task proved to be more difficult than we had foreseen but through our account of urban exploring in Manchester we hope to have contributed a meaningful insight to the act of urbex and its community.

Laura May and Tine Marguillier

The medium that our group decided to focus on was festivals in Manchester. There is a rich mix of festivals in the city – from music orientated festivals such as Dot to Dot and Parklife to family orientated ones such as the Manchester Science Festival to the new to 2012 Manchester Histories Festival. Manchester International Festival; a bi-annual cultural festival that takes over the city centre, has only been running three years yet has had huge critical acclaim, drawn a variety of internationally known names and also attracted a wide audience. Not Part Of is the fringe festival that runs alongside the aforementioned Manchester International Festival. This focusses more on home-grown talent and showcases many weird and wonderful local artists. Events for Not Part Of can be discovered in unlikely venues across the city; such as the basement of Joshua Brooks and back rooms of bars along Canal Street.

When deciding to take on the topic of festivals for the group work we wanted to look at the accessibility of the arts in festivals and the participation that occurs from a variety of people from different backgrounds and ages. We wanted to also look at digital culture also due to the digital participation and how this has changed not only the cultural landscape and how we consume the media, but also how we participate. The decision became clear to research the Futureeverything Festival which comprises of three strands: music, art and a two day conference; which will take place in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in May 2012. “FutureEverything is all about discovering and celebrating the latest developments at the intersection of art and technology. We find and share with you the small sparks that grow into fresh ways of seeing the world”. Futureeverything (formerly Futuresonic) started in 1995 and the long running festival, now in its seventeenth year,  has evolved over time from being seen as an exclusively niche digital arts festival to become more mainstream in its output due to the growth and accessibility of digital culture and the digital age in which we live in today.

The changing cultural landscape in the way that we participate in the creative sector, digital culture and society at large have brought about this year’s theme of participation and exploring connectivity and collective action. Due to our interest in participation in the arts and through digital culture; it became a natural choice for the group project to research Futureeverything and something we wanted to focus on in more depth. Topics explored within this year’s conference will include a look at Participatory Media, Arab Spring, Future Cities and Mass Observation.

In conducting our research, this initially began by looking at what information was online and how much information we could access through digital participation alone. Futureeverything are, as to be expected, active on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and have two main blogs. Yet to really get underneath the surface of the Futureeverything brand we needed to talk to the staff of the festival. Jackie Malcolm, the General Manager of Futureeverything Festival kindly gave us an interview which allowed us to dig deeper in to what their focus is and see what goes on behind the scenes. Jackie sees Futureeverything as firmly rooted in Manchester and it has always been active across different disciplines and niches. Although part of the city as a whole, many neighbourhood networks exist in Manchester’s Northern Quarter which Futureeverything fits within – both geographically and in the independent, alternative spirit of the area. The feeling that Jackie gave was that those that do participate in Futureeverything “feel part of something bigger” which is what the festival instils in its users.

Despite spanning across different fields and engaging with a wide audience, Futureeverything want to expand their audience and encourage younger people to participate in their festival. Through having the opportunity to talk to Drew Hemment, the Founder and Chief Executive of Futureeverything and through correspondence with Jackie Malcolm, it has allowed us to work alongside them and write a project based on what their needs are for the future – and any recommendations we can make. The Arts Council England has five main goals for Achieving Great Art. Goal five is that “every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts”. In attaining this goal it is a priority of Futureeverything, who is primarily funded by the Arts Council to work with arts organisations to build creative partnerships for the future and enhance the cultural experience of young people.

The group project in Manchester has proved a challenging and stimulating experience for all involved. To be given creative licence of the project from the beginning was very refreshing, yet this also gave us ‘stress-of-choice’ to some degree in choosing what festivals we wanted to focus on, to the themes explored throughout the research. From what we envisaged at the start of the Manchester block to what we feel our project is now has been a changeable process but it has been rewarding to be able to work alongside a festival which we feel is a firm part of Manchester’s cultural identity.

‘FutureStory: Manchester‘ might read like an advertising gimmick, but it also offers an interesting view on new and creative businesses that are shaping Manchesters’ future economic development.

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
The Institute for Culture and Society encourages theoretically-directed empirical research on the transformations in culture and society in the global era. The Institute is home to a number of internationally renowned scholars, contributing to the University of Western Sydney receiving the highest ranking for research quality – well above world standard – in Cultural Studies (as part of the Excellence in Research for Australia 2010).
Headed by Director, Distinguished Professor Ien Ang, and Research Director, Professor Tony Bennett, the Institute for Culture and Society is especially interested in projects in the following areas:

* Cities and Urban Cultures
* Intercultural Dialogue and Transnational Culture
* Institutions, Governance and Citizenship
* Cultural Economy and Globalisation
* Heritage, Environment and Society
* Digital Research and Cultural Transformation
* Australian Cultural Fields
* Culture and Education

Candidates with backgrounds in cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, human geography, cultural history, media and communication studies, Asian studies and other disciplines are encouraged to apply. International applications are welcome, although fees may apply.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA
* Good Bachelor Honours degree (Class 1 or 2.1), or equivalent qualifications and/or experience
* Research or professional experience in a relevant field of the humanities and social sciences.

WHAT DOES THE SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDE?
* Tax-free stipend of $32,860 per annum and a funded place in the doctoral degree for domestic candidates. International applicants may have to pay fees.

FURTHER INFORMATION
* To discuss a potential project please contact Dr Megan Watkins at OR Professor Deborah Stevenson at

* Contact the Research Training, Policy and Programs Officer, Mrs Sandra Lawrence to discuss enrolment and scholarships:

* Find out more about the research being undertaken in the CCR and ICS at http://www.uws.edu.au/centre_for_cultural_research/ccr

HOW TO APPLY
* Submit an application form, research proposal and CV by the closing date. The application form can be downloaded from the web: www.uws.edu.au/research/scholarships

APPLICATIONS CLOSE 21 October 2011

1. Dates have been changed. New hand in date for thesis: Friday 31^st August
2. Date of Brussels graduation 2012 is not included in the document, but will be announced later.
3. “Transcripts of interviews should not be included in the annexes, unless specified otherwise by the supervisor. Transcripts should be available upon request.” This reduces the amount of pages for the thesis, but if someone prefers to have the transcripts anyway just ask the student.

You can download the pdf here: Thesis guidelines POLIS 2011-12