Blue-green lessons from Manchester for the future of our cities
Paul Morris, Director and head of our North studio, talks about how cities must treat blue-green infrastructure as essential, connected systems, to build healthier, more resilient places.
By 2050, almost 7 billion people are expected to live in urban areas worldwide. As cities continue to expand and densify, increasing pressure is being placed on how our urban environments are designed, experienced and maintained.
Yet too often, the spaces that support health, wellbeing and climate resilience are treated as secondary to development, rather than fundamental to it. Blue-green infrastructure cannot be viewed as an optional extra. It is essential to creating places that are healthier, more resilient and better connected.
People
Access to nature has a direct impact on people’s physical and mental wellbeing. Research consistently shows that daily exposure to green space improves health outcomes, encourages activity and strengthens community connections.
But successful blue-green infrastructure is about more than adding isolated pockets of green space. It’s about creating environments that people can move through, experience and enjoy as part of everyday life.
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs), for example, can be designed as attractive public spaces as well as practical infrastructure. Raingardens, wetlands and floodable parks can all contribute to biodiversity while also creating places for communities to spend time, play and connect.
A successful example is Mayfield Park in Manchester, a 6.5-acre park behind Piccadilly Station that combines public space with climate resilience. Alongside play and relaxation areas, the park is designed to temporarily store excess rainwater during heavy rainfall before releasing it gradually once flood risk has reduced.
Place
Too often, the elements that shape successful blue-green infrastructure are treated as separate issues. In reality, water, landscape, movement and public space are deeply interconnected and should be planned as part of a single urban system.
This means moving beyond seeing blue and green spaces as standalone amenities, and instead recognising them as infrastructure that supports how cities function and grow.
When approached in this way, the focus shifts from delivering isolated projects to creating connected networks that improve how people move through places and access jobs, homes and services. Existing neighbourhoods present a major opportunity for this kind of thinking, where improving and linking green-blue spaces can unlock wider social, environmental and economic value.
In Manchester, this approach is already taking shape through CyanLines, an ambitious plan to connect the city’s parks, squares, rivers, canals and viaducts through a network of green corridors. Civic is working alongside partners to support the initiative, bringing expertise in sustainability, engineering, climate resilience and movement strategy to help shape the projects.
Planet
Cities that fail to invest in nature-led infrastructure will increasingly struggle to respond to climate pressures. Flood resilience, urban cooling and biodiversity are no longer future considerations, they are immediate priorities for creating places that can adapt and thrive.
Blue-green infrastructure plays a critical role in responding to these challenges. By slowing surface water runoff, reducing urban heat and creating habitats for wildlife, these systems help cities become more resilient while improving day-to-day urban life. The work we carried out closely with the GMCA on developing its Sustainable Drainage Design Guidelines, further demonstrates the importance of nature-led infrastructure and lessons to be learnt from Manchester.
There are more examples across the North-West where thinking is gaining momentum, including schemes such as Liverpool’s Central Docks, where Civic is lead designer on reimaging the iconic dockland. Plus, further afield in Glasgow, our Custom House Quay project is helping reshape former industrial areas through new public realm, landscape and waterside infrastructure, similarly in Ireland, as part of Grow College Green, we’re planting 75 new trees and 1,400 square metres of landscaped planting. The Sutton Estate in Chelsea, London, that included a SuDS scheme across the whole retrofit social housing scheme.
The focus should still be to create more green and blue spaces in our towns and cities, along with making sure it works as part of a connected system, one that supports people, strengthens places and responds to the realities of a changing climate.
Have your say on CyanLines if you’re a Manchester resident
The first public survey has now launched to help shape the future of CyanLines and gather insight from communities across Manchester. The survey is anonymous and takes around five minutes to complete.
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