Resilient Transport 2026 will take place at the Manchester Deansgate Hotel.
Location information
Address
Contacts
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: +44 (0)20 7665 2226
About Manchester
Starting as a Bronze Age settlement at the confluence of the rivers Irwell and Medlock, Manchester became the site of a Roman fort and market town.
Its emergence as a major city began when steam engines replaced water mills as the local textile sector’s main power source at the turn of the 19th century. This fuelled a surge in productivity that would earn Manchester the nickname Cottonopolis. It’s widely regarded as the birthplace of the first industrial revolution.
Benjamin Disraeli, who served twice as UK prime minister during Victoria’s reign, is reputed to have said: “What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow.”
Indeed, the city has a proud tradition of advanced R&D in many fields. As far back as the mid-1800s, for instance, Dr Robert Angus Smith was conducting air pollution studies in Manchester that led him to coin the term acid rain.
After helping to crack the Nazis’ Enigma code in the Second World War, Alan Turing developed software at the University of Manchester for one of the earliest stored-program computers. The machine, the Manchester Mark I, was a major milestone in computing history.
And, in the late 1950s, the city was the test bed for a new telephony service that formed the foundations of the mobile communications tech we depend on today.
A historic hub of transport innovation
Manchester’s expansion has gone hand in hand with the development of its transport networks. The city’s adoption of steam power meant that demand for coal rocketed. To help satisfy this, the first canal of the industrial era, the Bridgewater Canal, was opened in 1761, running 12km north-west from central Manchester to the colliery village of Worsley.
In 1830 Manchester again found itself at the leading edge of transport technology with the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway – the world’s first passenger line and the first to use steam locomotives exclusively.
In 1894 the Manchester Ship Canal was completed. The new link to the Mersey Estuary would turn Manchester into the UK’s third-busiest port, despite its location more than 50km from the Irish Sea. This engineering feat aided the establishment of Trafford Park, the world’s first planned industrial estate, and the city’s advance as a manufacturing centre.
In 1992 the Metrolink tram network opened. It’s since become the UK’s most extensive light rail system, serving many areas of Greater Manchester – a thriving conurbation that’s home to nearly 3 million people.