This book provides a comprehensive, reflective and critical analysis of the far-reaching process of urban transformation, searching beneath the hype to expose the true character of the 'new Manchester'. Has Manchester engineered an urban renaissance, having finally turned its back on the grimy factory economy? Or is it on a slow-motion slide into the post-industrial sludge of economic insecurity and social polarization? Drawing on the work of leading researchers and commentators in the field, this collection provides answers to these and other questions concerning Manchester's changing political economy.