| Summary: | This thesis deals with the development of an area of central Manchester, called Hulme. It examines both the development of the reputation and the housing problems as they affected local people. The key note of the thesis is the way that people learned to adapt, cope and (eventually) change their environment, either as individuals or in groups. I examine the types of adaptation, resistance and political development that occurred when large groups of people lived together on a council estate under very difficult circumstances. I examine both the positive and negative effects of these adaptations, as well as the way that the city councils housing system colluded with the media to create a mystified impression of an area as "wild" or dangerous. Using both words and photographs from the "inside", I hope to show that Hulme was actually both ordinary and orderly. The day-to-day interactions were intelligent ways of coping with an impossible set of problems: reputation, poverty, bad housing, unemployment and chaotic housing management. I show that areas like Hulme are allocated a role within society as the "deviants" and as such are used as examples and scapegoats for the tenants of other areas. Looking at some of the positive adaptations, I hope to show that the people of the the, "inner city" could help to create a worth while dynamic of social organisation.
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