Television as Urban Regeneration: Manchester's MediaCityUK

Nearly 60 years after launching Granada Television (now ITV Granada), founder Sidney Bernstein's vision is receiving a validation of sorts in the form of MediaCityUK, a mixed-use project along the Manchester Ship Canal that's anchored by the network's more famous rival, the London-based British Broadcasting Corporation. But MediaCityUK is more than just a job poach from England's capital (ITV Granada will be based there, too). It's the assemblage of production facilities, large and small creative service providers, a university, a job incubator, apartments, retail, and public space, all in one built-from-scratch neighborhood.

The 200-acre development is a cluster of flashy architecture, popping out from the relatively quiet Manchester Ship Canal. Situated in Salford (a borough of Manchester) amid glass towers, retail, a new footbridge, and a public square that's twice the size of Trafalgar Square, MediaCityUK now hosts nine media studios and nearly 400 apartments. All of it is accessible by a new light rail expansion, connecting riders to central Manchester and Picadilly Station, where trains can reach London in about two hours.