Manchest[AR]
Manchest[AR] is a speculative urban design thesis that re-imagines East Manchester in 2050 as a prototype
for cities shaped by Augmented Reality. AR is positioned as essential infrastructure, enhancing
sociability, mobility, and spatial awareness in response to the isolating effects of immersive VR. Unlike
VR, which detaches users from reality, AR reinforces connection to place and community. The project
envisions a masterplan where AR overlays are embedded into transport networks, public spaces, and
housing, allowing citizens to interact with their environment in real time. Through detailed site specific
analysis, computational design, and immersive simulations, Manchest[AR] explores how digital augmentation
can strengthen the physical city rather than replace it. AR is not treated as interface but as architecture,
actively redefining how space is navigated, experienced, and designed. This approach imagines the
city as a responsive, living system where digital information is spatially grounded. The project proposes a
new urban literacy, where seeing, moving, and socialising are enhanced through embedded, place based
technologies. The thesis ultimately challenges the architect’s evolving role in a future where the screen
dissolves and the city becomes the interface.
