A classless Salford
This thesis project has critiqued and redesigned the proposed masterplan for Ordsall Riverside by Salford City Council, refocusing on building and improving communities and relationships between mixed class residents living within a close proximity.
The project has been developed using inclusive master planning methods to produce a fully equitable mixed-income neighbourhood. The feasible nature of this project explores how regeneration can be used as a tool to improve areas and be inclusive of all types of people who may occupy the new space, regardless of class status.
The project includes a resident’s brochure as its main communication strategy, which outlines the Historic Quarter to a mixed class audience and details each aspect of the building, encouraging transparency and trust between the development and the community.
Through challenging stereotypes and considering how the perception of class impacts on local community experience of the built environment, the architecture of this project sets out to create personally equitable homes, which maximise the potential for social interaction and empower residents in the belief that quality homes are a right regardless of financial situation or class status.
Examining the everyday needs and interactions which may occur within a mixed-income housing development has allowed this project to explore a variety of housing typologies, as well as a set of interactive and adjustable communal spaces, which allow a diverse set of neighbours to live within a single development.
The Ordsall Riverside is still in the midst of gentrification, but there is still a chance for the area to put people and communities at the forefront, and to ensure that future developments take an anti-classist approach.
