Arts and Culture

Invisible Cities: Seeing the streets through the eyes of the homeless

A fascinating social enterprise is aiming to change perceptions of homelessness by showing UK cities through the eyes of people who have lived on their streets. 

Invisible Cities trains people who have experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own areas – enabling them to build confidence whilst developing public speaking and customer service skills. 

Tours run in a variety of UK cities – including right here in Manchester. 

The guides can choose whatever topic they would like to cover, and tours range from explorations of powerful Mancunian women to revisiting spots where the guides experienced homelessness. 

MM spoke to Andy, one of the tour guides, whose ‘Ales and Alleyways’ tour focuses on famous Manchester pubs and his own experiences of Manchester night life.

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