I just finished watching a documentry about Joy Division and felt compelled to look back at my architectural dissertation I wrote about the regeneration of Manchester. These may seem like rather unconnected events between the re-designing of a city in the mid 90's and the a post-punk band of the early 80's but they are not and I would like to explain why.

The documentary starts by Tony Wilson the creator of Factory Records and Band manager to many of the greatest British bands, declaring that the re-modernisation of Manchester, the city that started the industrial revolution before going in to deep decline and poverty, was started by a four piece post-punk band with only two albums to their name called Joy Division. On the surface this is a ridiculous statement but in theory has substance.

In 2006 I wrote my dissertation entitled, 'The Regeneration of Post Industrial Cities - Manchester and Birmingham' it focused on the comparison of the two cities both once thriving industrial cities who were left with architectural scars and spiralling unemployment levels in the 70's and 80's. My conclusion was that Manchester had succeeded to regenerate its city at a much quicker rate and a higher level then Birmingham because of two key factors, the IRA bomb in the centre of the city during the Euro 1996 football tournament and the awarding of the commonwealth games which were held in 2002. The bombing that thankfully caused no fatalities, destroyed many of the buildings in the centre of the city that were decaying concrete edifices that were uninspiring and dated. This provided a golden opportunity for the city re-plan the centre of the city, r-think it's difficult navigation and declining central business and retail district. The funding, attention and sponsorship that came with winning the commonwealth games allowed further regeneration and the rate at which it could happen, seeing the city transform in to a modern city in as little as 10 years.

So where does Joy Division fit in to this you might ask, or even where does music fit into the architectural regeneration of a city? well in Manchester, music is more then just music, it is an attitude, an outlook on life and the rich musical heritage of Manchester portrayed an attitude that the country and to some extent the world stood up and took note of and aspired to. Many would argue that the home of indie music is Manchester, the city’s ability to produce defining bands of this genre must be applauded and it all started with Joy Division and Factory records.....(more to come)