The DNA of Manchester

If you are familiar with Manchester already, you may have heard it being described as the “shock city” of the Industrial Revolution and it also fits the description of an “instant city”. It was the industrialisation of the textile manufacturing and finishing that transformed Manchester under an intense and dramatic process of urbanisation. Put simply, the scale of innovation that took place in this region in the 18th and 19th centuries revolutionised the world. Mills, warehouses and factories processed more cotton than anywhere else and through its pioneering inventions in transport, industrial techniques and factory layouts. It became a global symbol of industrial success. Why Manchester? We wondered. Why did this place become the world’s first industrial city? How has Manchester evolved through its experiences of severe de-industrialisation and though its recovery in the 21st Century?