In search of a present-day utopia The heritage of the modernists

“Many people dream of a better world; Howard, Wright and Le Corbusier each went a step further and planned one. Their social consciences took this rare and remarkable step because they believed that, more than any other goal, their societies needed new kinds of cities.” Robert Fishman

“The world’s greatest happiness lies in action” Le Corbusier

Modernist planning, nowadays, equals authoritarian disaster, anti-social displacement of whole neighbourhoods, grey concrete buildings and large, uninspired open space – the Great Blight of Dullness, in the sarcastic words of Jane Jacobs. Indeed a lot of large-scale modernist projects didn’t quite work out the way their inventors had planned them on the drawing board. It may be en vogue to mock or discard the attempts of Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright to rebuild and reinvent the urban fabric and take the highly unsanitary 19th century slums well into the 20th century. Yet, there are good reasons to defend the project the modernists had in mind. Not all of their recipes worked, to say the least, but these urbanists may have had a quality lost to contemporary urbanism. The quality to dream, to formulate a vision and seek for big solutions. Read More

The online image of Manchester

Internet has now invaded our everyday life. If one is looking for an event, some music or a park to rest, a short click on google will do it to find everything one needs together with a lot of superfluous information. The internet with around 7.82 billion websites in March 2012 (WorldWideWebSize.com) is the most democratic and at the same time the most chaotic medium, if not google would keep it sorted. This web giant influences the way we search and receive information. Google became a marketing and PR-tool for private persons, companies and even cities. And with the world wide web, the online reputation becomes increasingly important.
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Media and the City – Seeking Participation in the Futureeverything Festival

Media and The City is the theme of this year’s group projects for the 2011/2012 Polis block in Manchester. The broad theme has given us (8 students with 3 small groups) creative licence as to what we can explore, research and present; with a specific look at Manchester and the myriad of mediums manifest in this city. The theme is purposely apt, due to the changes that have occurred in Manchester recently. This last year has seen the opening of the new BBC headquarters: Media City in Salford Quays. The move from what many perceived the BBC to be as a ‘Londoncentric’ institution to ‘The North’ has determined the decentralisation of the BBC. Only time will tell how it will change the landscape of Media in Manchester and perceptions of The North, as well as creating local jobs for local people and possible subsequent gentrification in areas of Salford – if at all!
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some other chances for housig in manchester

http://www.clickflatshare.co.uk/
http://manchester.gumtree.com/
http://www.homes4u.co.uk/
http://manchester.spareroom.co.uk/

housing in MANCHESTER

hola, I got the following tip concerning housing in Manchster:

http://www.manchesterstudenthomes.com/ (they have a section for single semester housing) or just look at the ‘available’ tabs.

Most students live in Fallowfield or Withington which are both pretty fun places to live. You could also look at Rusholme (the curry mile), West Didsbury (a bit more expensive and far from the centre but a really nice atmosphere), Chorlton or around Victoria Park area. And all the bits inbetween!

Other good websites to look at are: