Observation around Kersal flat site, seeking wasted land.
This work is based on the study from 'Edgelands' by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts, also the film 'Natural Urbana' by Matthew Gandy.
One type of Wasteland Farley and Roberts describe as:
‘There then follows a tall herb stage, featuring competitive longer stemmed varieties, followed in turn by grasses. Looking at a decade-old patch of wasteland, you might typically be seeing a thick sward of grassland, broken by taller clumps of herbs, though the earlier, successional stages can still be 'read' in the great variety of species still persisting’ (Farley and Roberts 2012: 140-141).
There is such a place around us, only when we look into it carefully. Because they are around us, but we do not notice their existence. In the suburb area of Salford (the northside of Central Manchester), a neighborhood located in the north of River Irwell, next to Littleton Road.
A forgotten garden is hiding inside of this residential neighborhood. This place used to be a crowded residential area. 12 flats were built in 1962, as part of the post-war solution to the massive housing crisis. It was believed that such development destroyed communities by bulldozing traditional housing and cramming a huge number of people into a confined space. Instead of high-rise luxury living along the lines of the Scandinavian model, it was considered that these concrete jungles created social alienation and social dislocation. 8 of these were demolished in 1990. The 4 blocks were sold to private developers to renovate for private sale. 2 blocks were painted white and renamed. The other 2 blocks were eventually demolished in 1999.
The keymap below shows the area comparison of the 80s and now.
I walked along Kersal way, this is what I saw: Plastic bottles, Fire traces, Moss, Withered flowers, Office chairs, Motorcycles, Unicron and street lights pole from the past still stands still, but no longer in use. A man walked towards me with his dog was the lovely scene made me feel more secure.