John Davies

metropoli project

At the beginning of 2000 I started an ambitious project to investigate and photograph Britain's major post-industrial cities.

My aim has been to document the multi-layered character of metropolitan areas and to identify the particular character, uniqueness and qualities of differing regional centres. I also wanted to produce a coherent series of images which reflect the positive achievements and realities within our continually changing urban space. I have tried to remain objective in this documentary work but a theme that has became increasingly important is to question as well as celebrate our collective responsibility in shaping the environments in which we live.

urban dreams

From the early 1980’s I documented aspects of the industrial and urban landscape of northern England and south Wales. These selected images formed the 1986 exhibition and publication "A Green & Pleasant Land". At this period in history many British cities were still the nerve centres for industrial activity. But during the 80’s and increasingly in the 90’s many of these metropolitan centres saw significant changes in their economic fortunes with the growth of service industries and a decline in manufacturing production and loss of population. By the beginning of the 21^st C. these post-industrial cities had started to re-invent their role and image as centres for knowledge and learning, culture and entertainment along with the prerequisite of numerous shopping re-developments and the creation of urban icons. Many commercial developers saw substantial opportunities in transforming run-down office and industrial buildings into designer apartments, bars and retail outlets.

Each city has developed strategies to increase it’s competitive advantage to attract inward investment and commerce. Batteries of urban designers have been employed to create improvements in the public realm, transport and infrastructure of the entire city – with the city centre as the focal point for civic aspiration and commercial gain. In the new pictures I have made for this project I have attempted to document these themes and to make sense of the new developments and changes to our post industrial cities.

the cities

I have developed different themes concerned with the infrastructure and the particular characteristics of social and civic architecture unique to each city. I was the first photographer to be commissioned by the Museum of London in 2001 when I agreed to explore the major arterial road links which run through the capital. In Birmingham and Glasgow I documented the open central spaces which attract people - especially the popular visited areas and the structures symbolising civic pride. The Manchester work concentrates on the newly created public and private pedestrian open spaces which are associated with recent building developments in the city centre. In Newcastle and Gateshead it was the historic layering of structures and the impact of T Dan Smith's characteristic modern developments that were significant. The Liverpool images focus on the architectural structures and symbols associated with Britain as a warring nation.