The centre of Manchester has now outstripped London as Britain’s most “vibrant” urban area with the influx of young professionals and students driving a new
The research on the vibrancy of our cities released by Experian, the global information services company, shows how inner city living is putting the heart back into some of England and Wales’ key urban centres, particularly in the Core Cities,former industrial heartlands outside Greater London.
The inner City Vibrancy rankings identified 75 key urban areas within London boroughs and cities across England and Wales based on 2011 Census data using an area within a 1km radius.Each of the centres were ranked on eight key characteristics covering the housing type, tenure, economic activity and the professional status of the population.
It found that the centre of Manchester has England and Wales’ most vibrant inner city, jumping 20 places up the rankings between 2001 and 2011 to first place, and indeed the six cities with the biggest jumps up the inner city vibrancy league were all Core Cities which were in the North and Midlands of England
Across the Irwell however, Salford does not fare well being in the bottom five vibrant places along with Hull, Portsmouth, Dagenham and Stoke on Trent.
The findings certainly the city centre’s renaissance over the past two decades as abandoned textile mills and warehouses have been redeveloped into flats and businesses as well as the low levels of social housing which in contrast is high in the centre of Salford.
