VIDEO TALK
Finance, funding and investing
Urban renewal and regeneration
19th November 2025
Healthy City Design Voices: From a ‘Dirty Old Town’ to a thriving, modern city
Addressing delegates at a keynote session of the Healthy City Design Congress, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett hailed the city’s regeneration, with 60 per cent of Salford made up of green spaces, “from parks and gardens of national significance, including the Royal Horticultural Society’s first urban garden in the North, RHS Bridgewater, and waterways and moss lands all enhancing wellbeing and sustainability. Our waterfront and our green spaces are central assets to our regeneration journey and we’re only just beginning to unlock their full potential.”
But he also stressed that regeneration in Salford is not characterised by gentrification or displacement, and that the lessons from the past need to be learned.
“It’s about creating places where people can live well with access to decent housing, green spaces, good jobs, and strong, vibrant communities,” he proclaimed. “And it’s a city that doesn’t see regeneration through a reductionist economic lens but as an approach that is fundamentally about people, incorporating the social and the environmental within its endeavours to becoming an inclusive economy.”
Presenters
Paul Dennett
City Mayor of Salford, UK
Event news
Green and blue infrastructure
Models, tools and frameworks
Inclusive design
Finance, funding and investing
Design for children and young people
