[Re]Connecting Pomona
This project reimagines Pomona Island as a socially driven alternative to exclusionary, profit-led development. At its core is a celebration of blue infrastructure, using constructed wetlands to naturally filter polluted waterways and provide a free leisure pool by placing clean, accessible water at the centre of public life. In doing so, it transforms Manchester’s neglected canals into shared spaces for care, education, and community connection.
A series of interventions work together to restore and repurpose water as a civic amenity. Structured wetlands, a water treatment plant, litter boats, and a sorting recycling centre regenerate the environment, while the leisure pools, dye workshop, community allotments, and a public café invite everyday engagement with water through learning, making, and gathering.
The project challenges traditional urban planning that prioritises profit over people. It confronts the privatisation of land and water, the erosion of social value, and the invisibility of care, environmental repair, and inclusivity in mainstream development.
Instead, the project proposes a new model, one that sees water not only as a vital resource, but as a metaphor and a political force. It envisions a city shaped by collective wellbeing, where water is reclaimed as a public good and becomes the foundation for a more inclusive, sustainable, and caring future for Manchester.
