the modernist x BDP present - The BDP Talk Series. 3.6 - Invisible Cities: Salford Before, During and After Redevelopment (1952-1974) by Tanya Poppelreuter- 20/3/25

Invisible Cities: Salford Before, During and After Redevelopment (1952-1974) 

Invisible Cities was an exhibition on show at the Salford Museum in 2024. It showcased Salford’s terraced streets, documented ‘slum’ clearance, and modernist redevelopment. The ways in which the public responded to this change was visualised by juxtaposing the utopian visions of architects with photographs from private collections, professional photographers and with film and TV stills.

This range of imagery allows it to revisit and rethink memories and our relationship with the past. It becomes clear that different types of Salford were depicted from different perspectives and with different purposes. This talk seeks to contribute to gaining a calibrated understanding of how the redevelopment of Salford was represented and how it is remembered today.

Tanja Poppelreuter is an Associate Professor in Architectural Humanities at the University of Salford. Her research interests lie in the field of 20th-century art and architectural theory with a focus on the impact of politics, gender, exile and social housing.

Her latest project “The Modern Backdrop” (2022-24) focussed on the demolition of 19^th-century terraced housing and development of Brutalist Housing Estates in Salford. The focus was on juxtaposing ambitions put forward by architects, planners and stakeholders with critiques seen in visual culture at the time and with retrospective oral history interviews.

Her other work consider the experiences of women with an education in architecture in exile. This research analyses the cultural and professional challenges associated with exile and draws on theoretical frameworks within gender studies and exile studies to suggest an alternative way of presenting historical events. In concentrating on transnational networks, events, actors and architectural productions, her research draws out subject matter seldomly documented in conventional historiography.

Image credits : Michael Goodger