Manchester makes me feel claustrophobic. I tried to find out why

How a flat, densely packed city centre created a collective claustrophobia

Dear readers — how does a city’s topography affect your state of mind? Picture yourself at the top of Montmartre or Primrose Hill or Arthur’s Seat. Now picture yourself wandering through Manchester’s flat, densely-packed city centre.

If the latter image gives you a creeping sense of claustrophobia, you’re not alone. Writer Christine Cornock has been trying to understand why she feels so flat walking through Manchester’s level streets, and she thinks she’s found the answer. According to two academic studies, we may be overlooking the profound contribution that depth and layers within a city’s design can make towards our psychological state.

But first, the latest on the Rochdale by-election.