Metropolis: Manchester is part of an ongoing project by photographer John Davies to investigate and photograph major UK cities at the beginning of the 21st century. 

Urbis, Manchester's new museum of city life and Manchester Art Gallery, in themselves two major landmarks in Manchester, will each show a number of beautiful large scale photographs of the city which were taken from high vantage points last summer.

Piccadilly	Urbis

Davies is interested in the architecture of the social environment and the interaction between people and places and the photographs concentrate on the popular open spaces which attract people.Landmarks including the Urbis building; the newly landscaped Piccadilly Gardens with buildings advertising the hugely successful Commonwealth Games; Exchange Square, the Gay Village, Albert Square and the much maligned 1970s Arndale Centre are all captured against blue summer skies.