In the Shadows of Skyscrapers: Youth Perspectives on Manchester’s Changing Landscape
In this insightful piece, Rory Dickinson, Head of Learning at our Manchester school, explores the perspectives of young people from Hulme and Moss Side on Manchester’s rapid urban development and its implications for their future.
It’s one of those beautiful early spring evenings that are rare in Manchester. Through the big glass panel windows I can see the leaves appearing on the oak tree that stands on St Mary’s Courtyard in Hulme.
Between the branches, the glass windows of The Hilton towers above the terraced house. When I first moved to the city, that building stood pretty much on its own, but now it’s surrounded by four almost identical buildings, and every day I feel their presence as I nip out to grab a lunchtime wrap from the locally owned Boxco Cafe. A reminder of whether I like it or not, this city is changing.
My watch begins to beep, and that’s a sign that the young people’s time is almost up. I pull my eyes away from the window and glance around the table, where a group of 11-14-year-olds are sat freewriting about the question I set them at the start of this session; What do you think of when you consider the future? I pause the music, and they put down their pens and begin chatting about their answers. These young people all come from Hulme or Moss Side, and they’ve chosen to spend their free time coming to REKINDLE, a supplementary school, set up by the award-winning CEO Ruth Ibeguna.
The idea came just before the pandemic, when a group of young people, and teachers, came together to answer another very simple question; how can we improve the education system? Together, they co-designed a creative curriculum that not only gives them the tools and resources to fit into a future economy, but also encourages them to think about what this future should look like, and how they can make it more equal. Now two years later, I’m sat helping deliver that curriculum. I ask the young people to share what they have written. A lot of it isn’t positive, more than one brings up the cost of living crisis, and how they worry that they are being priced out of the city. Why I ask? Because even if we do find work, a young boy replies, the likelihood of being able to buy a place round here, feels very unlikely. You need generational wealth for that.
It’s an interesting comment. At first glance, it feels like a fantastic time to be young and living in Manchester. The city has arguably never seen so much money, and according to the real estate firm Colliers, it is the highest-ranking city for residential investment. Over the past five years, the city has had a record house price growth of 33% and was placed as the top English city regarding economic performance. It’s impossible not to see the impact of this. New cultural centres such as Aviva Studios, and Co-Op Live are pulling bigger artists than ever before to the city, and whole new neighbourhoods have seemingly appeared overnight bringing with them new restaurants, bars and cafes.
Yet despite the money being pumped into the city, the cost of living crisis for working-class families is getting worse, and according to a recent study by Greater Manchester’s Mayors Charity, 37% of children and young people now live in poverty, which means Manchester has the third highest rate in the UK for child poverty. With this comes a lot of other quite obvious factors. On average children on free school meals achieve lower grades in their GCSEs than other pupils. They are therefore less likely to go to university, less likely to obtain well-paid jobs and occupy senior leadership positions. Instead, young people who grow up on free school meals in primary school are more likely to face exclusion from school, more likely to go to prison, and more likely to end up homeless.
My colleague appears through the door and asks what they want for dinner. At the end of every session, we provide a hot meal for those who attend. This has quickly become my favourite time of every session. We put our notepads aside, and eat like a family around the table. The young people relax, joke with each other, and tell me funny stories about their day, and what they have been up to. More than one tells me of their plans to get into dropshipping once they turn 16. I nod and pretend like I know what they are going on about. Finally, we finish, they pick up their bags, and head off back home. I’m left alone with their writing and thoughts about how much they fear the future.
As I flick through the notes, I remind myself that I’ve now worked in the youth sector in Manchester for almost ten years, and I’ve seen young working-class people achieve things people could only dream of. I’ve seen them become CEOs, published writers and successfully design and produce their own video games. I’ve seen them go and study abroad, and come back speaking a second language with ambitions to go and work at the UN. I’ve even seen one develop a successful acting career in the TV industry. Social mobility is possible, but let’s be clear, all those young people swam against the tide, and for every success story I’ve got several ones that are far less positive.
I pick up my bag and glance back through the window to where The Hilton is glowing in the night sky. I do understand the need to generate wealth, however if we can’t make all this new money work for working class kids who grow up in the city, then I can’t help but wonder what really is the point?
