The chapter reviews approaches to decoloniality and critical evaluations of the relaunch of the civic university idea in the twenty-first century, and the risks of commodifying diversity and community links and objectifying communities in pursuit of a neoliberal agenda. In 2010 the Multilingual Manchester (MLM) project was launched as a model of non-linear, reciprocal partnership combining teaching, research and public engagement. It set up multiple partnerships with local service providers and community groups, a student volunteer scheme, digital resources and a policy engagement strand and created public spaces to engage with the city’s multilingualism. Ironically it was the crystalisation of a neoliberal university agenda that gave the initiative momentum: MLM was seen as a useful tool to market degree programmes by offering a unique student experience and employability prospects, a way to maximise impact (in 2014 and 2021 more than half of the relevant unit of assessment’s impact submissions were linked to MLM) and to demonstrate connections with the locality.

Public celebrations of multilingualism forge ideologies of civic belonging that incorporate linguistic diversity into local citizenship. They create a concept of citizenship that embraces historical migration while sharing local space. In Manchester, celebration of language days started in schools, proceeded to neighbourhood events and culminated with the adoption of the UNESCO International Mother Language Day as an annual civic event. The latter is partly motivated by an agenda to effectively market cultural festivals as part of a local creative industry. Celebrations are informed by a city language narrative that relies on public communication of research results. Public display of languages interrogates language hierarchies and claims language rights. But as the city language narrative is anchored more firmly and more widely, the decolonial agenda that it once represented becomes to some extent appropriated by the neoliberal reality.

Cities are contact zones characterised by conviviality of cultures. They have been described as the ideal setting for multilingual utopias, where institutional spaces emerge that cultivate multilingualism. In the context of globalisation and super-diversity, cities can redefine themselves as post-national spaces. Neoliberalism embraces diversity for its profitablity value; it is opposed by notions of the right to the city and local citizenship. Critical social and sociolinguistic theory embraces definitions of identity, community and language that recognise the dynamics of multiple components in individuals' repertoires of features and networks of practice. Traditional notions of identity, belonging, commuity and language give way to an appreciation of the fluidity of forms of belonging and networking practice. Diasporas are understood as translocal networks of practice with multiple expressions of belonging. Manchester as an early industrial city offers an interesting setting to observe the evolution of diaspora communities and their alignment with fluid language practices.