Overview

In cities across the world, gentrification and the housing crisis are facts of life. But how did we get to this point? And is there any way we can fight back? A good place to begin answering these questions is Manchester, England. Over the last thirty years, corporate developers, rentier capitalists and boosterist politicians have reshaped Manchester in their image, replacing its working-class communities, public spaces and affordable housing with skyscrapers, luxury developments and a private rental market that creates wealth for rentiers and impoverishes everybody else. The Rentier City traces this story, showing how it fits within the longer history of Manchester. In doing so unveils a larger story of the relationship between capital and our cities, between rentier and rentee, and gives us a blueprint of how fight back against rentier capitalism and take back control of the cities we live in. How did Manchester became the poster-child of neoliberal urbanisation, and what can the people that live there do about it? In cities across the world, gentrification and the housing crisis are facts of life. But how did we get to this point? And is there any way we can fight back? A good place to begin answering these questions is Manchester, England. Over the last thirty years, corporate developers, rentier capitalists and boosterist politicians have reshaped Manchester in their image, replacing its working-class communities, public spaces and affordable housing with skyscrapers, luxury developments and a private rental market that creates wealth for rentiers and impoverishes everybody else. The Rentier City traces this story, showing how it fits within the longer history of Manchester. In doing so unveils a larger story of the relationship between capital and our cities, between rentier and rentee, and gives us a blueprint of how fight back against rentier capitalism and take back control of the cities we live in.

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9781915672186

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Reviews

"“Rose’s compelling evocation of Manchester as a symptomatic ‘rentier city’ will provide a crucial reference point for all those seeking a less exploitative and socially polarised urban future.” ""A remarkable achievement.... The Rentier City is destined to become the definitive account of how and why Manchester has neoliberalised, while also suggesting how a different city trajectory can be realised."" ""A compassionate account of how Manchester's traditions of ruthless capitalism and contempt for the urban working class got revived and rebranded, demonstrating how local government, property developers and the culture industry have worked together to create a landlord's paradise."""

"“Rose’s compelling evocation of Manchester as a symptomatic ‘rentier city’ will provide a crucial reference point for all those seeking a less exploitative and socially polarised urban future.” ""A remarkable achievement.... The Rentier City is destined to become the definitive account of how and why Manchester has neoliberalised, while also suggesting how a different city trajectory can be realised."" “Finally, here’s the antidote to the decades of Mad Fer It Urban Boosterism that have beset Greater Manchester. This book deserves a place in the pockets of all those in the northern metropolis who refuse to participate in the self-congratulatory rituals of Manctopia.” ""As a born and bred Mancunian I’ve been waiting for a book like this for some time! A wonderful, rich, yet accessible, account of the rise, fall and neoliberal resurrection of rentierism in Manchester over the longue durée. A must read for anyone interested in the past, and concerned about the present and future of this paradigmatic city."""

"""Rose's compelling evocation of Manchester as a symptomatic 'rentier city' will provide a crucial reference point for all those seeking a less exploitative and socially polarised urban future."" ""A remarkable achievement.... The Rentier City is destined to become the definitive account of how and why Manchester has neoliberalised, while also suggesting how a different city trajectory can be realised."" ""Finally, here's the antidote to the decades of Mad Fer It Urban Boosterism that have beset Greater Manchester. This book deserves a place in the pockets of all those in the northern metropolis who refuse to participate in the self-congratulatory rituals of Manctopia."" ""As a born and bred Mancunian I've been waiting for a book like this for some time! A wonderful, rich, yet accessible, account of the rise, fall and neoliberal resurrection of rentierism in Manchester over the longue duree. A must read for anyone interested in the past, and concerned about the present and future of this paradigmatic city."" ""Since the eighties, Manchester's public housing and sites of social communing, including the Hacienda, have been decimated by private developers working in tandem with city boosters. Has any other city ever lost so much of its soul in such a short space of time? Isaac Rose has provided us with a searing account of this history."" ""In this sharp, impassioned study, Isaac Rose shines a light on the endlessly nuanced, utterly venal yet irrepressibly soulful northern metropolis that is modern-day Manchester. This is an essential, searing and vital piece of writing."" ""An important and hopeful book, written in the spirit of resistance against the wreckage of rentier extraction, and an indispensable contribution to our understanding of neoliberal urbanism."""

Author Information

Isaac Rose is a writer and tenant organiser who lives in Manchester. He has been a tenant organiser with Greater Manchester Tenants Union for three years, and has been involved with Greater Manchester Housing Action for over five years. He was the chair of Manchester Momentum 2018-20, and his writing on housing has been published in Tribune.

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