The Historical Structure of Manchester
One of the things Manchester is most renown for are the commentaries that were made about the city's structure as the city and its surrounding areas grew and developed in the mid-late 19th century. While the city and the greater conurbation have gone through many changes since that time, some of the basic structural qualities remain the same. This section examines some of the historical commentaries made about Manchester and the internal structure of the city.
By the early 1800's Manchester had a well-shaped structure. There was a central business district (CBD) in the center organized by use; the professions, finance, wholesaling, textile offices, and warehouses all had their own sections. This center was also the focus of a public transport system consisting of horse/bus routes, and (around 1850) four-railway stations.
Around the business center there was a ring of textile mills, foundries, engineering and chemical plants. This area was known as the "industrial collar."
Beyond the industrial collar, the residential areas were arranged in neatly graded social order. There was a zone of low income, poor artisan-housing encircling the factory belt, then a zone of the white-collar class of clerks and salespeople, and then on the outskirts of the city lived the very rich. The wealthy often lived in places like Victoria Park, which lay 2 miles from the city center in a safe, walled, gated, and policed environment.
Frederich Engles made a series of observation on Manchester in the late 19th century, many of which were included in his book, The Condition of the Working Class in England. Engels found that the population of Manchester in the 1840's was almost completely residentially segregated on the basis of class. He noted the central commercial district, the rings of working people's quarters, and the location of the upper class bourgeoisie extending outwards from the city center.
Engels is credited with being the first to conceptualize the concentric zone theory based on his study of Manchester. Engels description of 1840's Manchester has been compared to the spatial structure of 1920's Chicago as described in the Burgess and Park model.
While the structure of Manchester has gone through many alterations, some of the characteristics described above still characterize the city. There is still a strong city center encircled by residential districts. While the residential districts are still very much divided by class, the pattern of the wealthy living the farthest away from the center is not as true today. There are working class suburbs as well as a growing population of young wealthy urban professionals living close to the city center.
One interesting part of Manchester's internal structure that has remained the same is the lack of public green space within the city. Historically, Manchester's structure was distinctive not only for its class stratification, but for the overwhelming domination of the physical landscape by buildings dedicated to trade and industry. The material effects of industrial growth had not been carefully planned out and little attention was paid originally to the importance of green space, the maintenance of nature, or the need for public gathering space. There were no parks in early industrial Manchester and the only space leftover from industrial development in inner Manchester by the late 19th century were turnpike roads used for sports and recreational play. Unlike many other northern cities such as Sheffield, Manchester's local industrialists did not donate any land for public use. Manchester did not see its first municipal park until 1868 and the city has never caught up in its provision of park space for the use of the general public. There is still a lack of downtown parks and walkways in Manchester today.
