This book explores the legacy of urban design left by the physical reconstruction of Manchester following the I.R.A. bomb of June 1996. It assesses the impact and value not only of the immediate city centre projects which reconfigured the sites affected directly by the bomb, the broader regeneration strategies fostered under the urban policies of the New Labour and Coalition governments, but also the impromptu changes to the cityscape during the so-called 'age of austerity'. The book questions whether the incoherence of what has resulted is a belated expression of the unique Mancunian genius loci.