The Tyne and Wear Metro is featuring in a new exhibition which explores the radical urban transformations that changed the face of Tyneside.
Concrete Dreams explores the ideas, personalities and political climate which transformed Newcastle into a modernist city.
The immersive exhibition is being staged by Newcastle University at the Farell Centre and is on for eight months.
The series explores how Tyneside was transformed in the latter half of the 20th Century and how we might reimagine the city of today.
We have loaned the exhibition an iconic yellow Metro station cube, a scale model of a Metro train, a chair featuring the original Metro seating fabric, and copies of Metro plans and commemorative literature from the Royal opening in 1981.
Sarah McCourt, Head of Communications, Marketing and Customer Information at Nexus, said: “We’re delighted that Metro is featuring in this exciting new exhibition at Newcastle University.
“The construction of the Tyne and Wear Metro system in the 1970s is a celebrated achievement for North East England. It helped to transform the Newcastle skyline and it revolutionised local public transport when it was opened in the summer of 1980.
“We were more than happy to loan the exhibition some familiar Metro memorabilia, including a model train and one of our iconic yellow and black Metro station cubes, whose appearance and font have become synonymous with our brand’s identity.
“Our hope is that people enjoy attending the Concrete Dreams exhibition over the next eight months. It really brings home just how Metro ranks alongside some of the other famous urban development projects which transformed the face of modern Tyneside.”
From the iconic architecture of Newcastle Civic Centre and vast infrastructure projects like the Central Motorway and the creation of the Tyne and Wear Metro, to local schools, libraries, civic amenities and housing – the urban transformations of the 1960s and 1970s have left an indelible mark on Tyneside.
The mission of the architects, city planners and politicians who enacted them was not simply to modernise the city, but to bring about a more prosperous and egalitarian future – albeit with much-contested results.
Running from September 2024 to June 2025, Concrete Dreams comprises an exhibition, installations and events programme, all geared towards exploring the ideals and aspirations that drove these transformations and the ways they continue to shape the Tyneside of today. Underpinning the project is the question: how amid the many challenges facing us now – from air quality to housing provision – can we build upon the legacies of that era and remake the city once again?
More info can be found here: Brasília of the North - Farrell Centre