The Jones also points to an interesting supplement in The Guardian, Cities Reborn. Matt picks out a quote from Phil Griffin about the influence of popular culture on cities, and coincidentally, I'd recently dug out an old piece I co-wrote when working at the Institute for Popular Culture in Manchester a few years ago (a former colleague had asked; I had to convert it from some old ClarisWorks; it was a slow news day etc.).
It too concerns the effect of popular culture on cities, in response to a book that had just appeared on Sheffield and Manchester, and had - in the opinion of Justin O'Connor and myself - neglected exactly that dimension of city life. I'm posting it here as some might find it interesting. It was published in the journal City in 1997.
Cottonopolis and Culture: Contemporary Culture and Structural Change in Manchester [pdf]