Manchester sees the opening of Urbis this month (June), a museum exploring the experience of living in a city.

Located in the city's Millennium Quarter, Urbis is housed within a £23m, six-storey, glass building created by Ian Simpson Architects and designed to reflect the surrounding city.

Four themed exhibitions take up a floor each and have been created for Urbis by designers At Large, Land Design Studio and Event Communications at a further cost of £7m.

'Arrive' is designed to 'recreate the shock of entering a city for the first time'; 'Change' explores how the city of Manchester has evolved, but also looks at life in other cities; 'Order' looks at the challenges of living in a city and how people overcome them and in 'Explore', visitors can study modern life, including 'Urbisville', where six avenues are laid out American grid-style, each one representing a different world city - Manchester, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore and Paris.

The project is being managed by The Millennium Quarter Trust for Manchester City Council Special Projects team, and expects to welcome 200,000 visitors per year. As well at the exhibitions, the building will contain an education suite, corporate entertainment facilities and a top floor restaurant and bar.

Funding was received from the Millennium Commission, the European Regional Development Fund, the DLTR and Manchester City Council.