Urban Futures Salford Manchester. Research in the City

Ellenroad Ring Mill

Ellenroad steams ahead with biomass

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles the installation of a biomass boiler in a 19th Century engine house.

Main image is an outtake from a film about Fallowfield Secret Garden

Proving by doing with AFSL

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles effective, bottom-up sustainable living and how this is organised.

Andreas Demmelbauer, Solar Panel

The Sunshine of St John's community generation project

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles St John's Sunshine, an innovative project to bring together church, community and energy generation.

The Fallowfield Loopline

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles the 21st Century relevance of 19th Century urban infrastructure.

Energy Academy Pilot

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles the Energy Academy Pilot, a Greater Manchester pilot project to develop a volunteer network to engage with householders through energy advice and understanding of energy usage.

Developing a carbon neutral community venue

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles the Affetside Millennium Green Trust Community Venue.

Didsbury Greening and Growing Group

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles an attempt to expand community food growing into community energy generation.

Greater Manchester Hydrogen Partnership

Greater Manchester Hydrogen Partnership

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles efforts in Greater Manchester to promote an old technology to address current ecological and economic problems.

Hough Lane Community Garden

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles not 'just another’ community garden. 

Improving Davyhulme’s Environmental Awareness

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles a long-term biography of a community-based environmental awareness initiative in Davyhulme.

Chorlton Refurb

The Alternative? Mike Hodson profiles Chorlton Refurb’s efforts to find ways of local people working together on reducing energy usage.

It Wasn't Built in a Day

Why transforming the material fabric of cities matters

Decarbonising cities has become an increasingly important policy and research challenge. Debates usually focus on the role of cities as producers and reducers of CO2; city-level policy responses to decarbonisation; and the strengths and weaknesses of these responses. Mike Hodson and Alex Wharton summarise these issues and the role of policy, practice and research in enhancing city responses in Greater Manchester; and set out future work to enhance responses.

Visit the main Platform site