Manchester is a city to watch. What kind of future is it building?

By Gavin Traylor, Founder of Hike

Manchester’s latest recognition from Oxford Economics gives the city good reason to look ahead with confidence. TheBusinessDesk’s coverage describes an economy combining employment growth with gains in productivity, with professional and business services helping drive that progress.

There is a wider story behind those results. Universities, cultural life and investment in transport, homes and workplaces all feature in Invest Manchester’s account of the findings. Together, they help explain the city’s appeal to people and businesses.

What interests me is how those strengths support one another. Universities bring people and ideas into Manchester. Its cultural life gives people reasons to enjoy being here. A growing range of businesses creates possibilities for what they might do next. Investment in the city helps those ambitions find somewhere to take shape.

As someone building a business here, I find that combination encouraging. It suggests a future with room for more people to create something, develop a career and make a lasting home.

I think Manchester’s next phase of growth should strengthen those possibilities.

A city becomes a more compelling place to settle when people can imagine several stages of their lives there. Studying and finding a first job are part of that. So are changing direction, starting a business, raising a family or finding a new opportunity after something has gone wrong. The more of those possibilities Manchester can support, the stronger its appeal becomes.

There is also a question about how widely that progress is felt.

The latest coverage acknowledges that growth has been concentrated in the centres of Manchester and Salford. In separate research on Greater Manchester’s incomes, Oxford Economics has also highlighted the gap between economic expansion and improvements in household incomes across the wider region.

That deserves attention alongside the recognition. A successful centre is an asset for Greater Manchester. The next stage needs to help more places and more people benefit from it.

The ambition described in the article to extend opportunity through the Good Growth Fund and development corporations across the city region is therefore important. Its value will become tangible through the businesses communities can sustain, the homes people can afford and the opportunities they can reach.

Housing and transport belong at the heart of this discussion. Oxford Economics’ analysis of Manchester’s growth modelidentifies high housing costs and weak income growth as significant challenges.

For someone making decisions about their future, these things are closely connected. A new role has to work alongside the cost of a home and the journey to work. The prospect of a better income means more when it creates some room to save or plan ahead. Being able to remain near friends, family and the places that matter can influence whether an opportunity feels possible at all.

That everyday experience is part of Manchester’s economic future. Businesses benefit from being in a city where people can settle, develop their experience and see reasons to stay. The conditions that support a good life here also support the city’s capacity to keep growing.

Manchester has earned the attention it is receiving. It should give us confidence to be ambitious about what follows, and thoughtful about the kind of city that ambition creates.

I want more people to look at Manchester’s future and be able to picture themselves in it.