Birmingham

Summer study!!

Location / Facts - Birmingham is located in the centre of England - It is the 2nd largest city with a population of around 1 million people. - 35 million people visited Birmingham in 2015 bringing in over £35 billion - Rapid increase in visitors from S.E. Asia - 60,000 people work in the leisure and tourism industry - 5 major universities with 60,000 students from around the world - It is home to 31,000 companies

Birmingham as a transport hub? New Street station is the busiest outside London with 34 million people using it The development of Grand Central around the station will create 14,000 new jobs,

2000 new homes in the centre bringing in £1.3 billion per year. Birmingham Airport had over 9 million customers in 2014 Plans are in place to raise this to 18 million Global hub now after the runway extended to allow larger plans to fly direct to China,

South America, Africa and the USA.

Impacts of migration on Birmingham Culturally diverse cities in the UK (1 million people from 187 countries in 2015) It has an age profile which makes it Europe’s ‘youngest city’ It has one of the highest proportions of migrants from other parts of the UK A significant proportion of foreign migrants from a wide range of countries A wide range of socio-cultural and recreational / entertainment opportunities Migrants come to the city to work and add both economic and cultural growth How migration shaped Birmingham? Jewish people cam in the late 19th century to avoid Russia persecution Polish people came during WW2 Caribbean migrants came for work after WW2 (economic) EU migrants recently moved as well This has led to the following; Rich multi-cultural communities Ethnic restaurants and cultural events Jewellery Quarter and Polish Catholic Centre built in Digbeth, 1947

Urban Issues and Challenges - Case Study

Urban Change in the UK - Birmingham - Part 1

Urban Change Opportunities Economic Birmingham is a young, dynamic city with 5 universities with over 50,000 students Largest number of new start-up businesses outside London offer a wide range of job

opportunities including retail, leisure, finance, manufacturing and technology Excellent transport infrastructure to all major UK cities and International Airport Social Strong historical culture with the city centre museum and art gallery house and the

Birmingham Hippodrome theatre Old city centre industrial areas have been regenerated (Brindley Place) Famous Bull Ring shopping centre together with numerous bars and restaurants Greenest cities with over 500 parks and open spaces including the Botanical Gardens

Environmental opportunities - Making Birmingham Green Urban Greening—the process of creating and maintaining green spaces in urban areas. To increase the amount of green space, the council put forward a plan called

“Birmingham’s Green Vision”. The aims were to; - Make the city a more attractive place in which to work and live - Encourage business and create prosperity - Use open space to encourage social interaction and good health What’s being done? Tree planting and development of greenways e.g. Eastside City Park (photo - left) Development of green roofs and walls (photo - right) Enhancing cycle tracks and walk ways Creating blue corridors alongside canals and rivers e.g. Longbridge (photo - middle) Developing parks and recreational space

Urban Issues and Challenges - Case Study

Urban Change in the UK Opportunities - Birmingham - Part 2

Integrated transport system To cope with the increase in population, the council announced 20 year plan in 2014 to

create a fully integrate transport system. This included; - Improved rail links across the city and beyond - Increased connectivity between road, rail and bus links - A new train system - Development of cycle routes and walkways

Urban Change Challenges Urban change can create a number of socio-economic and environmental challenges. Declining industry can lead to the development of brownfield sites which fall into

dereliction. Rising unemployment and poverty can lead to a spiral of decline where living conditions

fall, people move away and the reputation of the area declines. New industries wont want to locate around these areas. (urban deprivation)

Urban Issues and Challenges - Case Study

Urban Change in the UK Challenges - Birmingham - Part 3

What is urban deprivation? This is the quality of life that is below what is recognised as acceptable in a country Can lead to large slum areas with sub-standard housing with disease issues In Birmingham there are examples of modern office buildings and expensive

apartments alongside run down housing and boarded up shops e.g. Ladywood

What determines a person’s quality of life? This is used to describe the conditions in which people live It includes economic (income, unemployment rate, % of home ownership), social

(housing quality, healthcare access, quality of schools) and environmental (pollution levels, Urban Greening and vandalism)

How is urban deprivation measured? A multiple deprivation index is used which look at a number of quality of life factors. - Income - Employment (rate and type) - Levels of health and disability - Levels of education / skills / training - Quality of housing and services - Level of crime In 2015, Birmingham was ranked the 3rd most deprived city in England after Liverpool

and Manchester. Most deprivation is centred around the city centre (Nechells, Aston and Sparkbrook)

Environmental challenges Building on brownfield and greenfield site In 2015 it was estimated that Birmingham needed 89,000 new houses, but there was

only space for 51,100. Brownfield sites - previously used for industry but fallen into disuse. + Valuable for building on because they are often large sites + Improves an unsightly area - Expensive to build on as they need to be cleared first which is an added cost Greenfield sites - Not been build on previously i.e. farmland or countryside + Usually cheaper to build on than brownfield sites - Leads to urban sprawl - Traffic congestion

Waste disposal As the population and number of business increase, so does the amount of waste Waste disposal is an environmental challenge with on 30% recycled in 2015 The Council is aiming for 40% by 2026 with the following strategies Household waste recycling centres - Collection points for recyclable materials across Birmingham - These are then taken to 5 specially built recycling centres - In 2014, 52,000 tonnes of rubbish was recycled, composted or diverted from landfill for further use. Energy Recovery - Birmingham has a state of the art Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) which takes 350,000 tonnes of rubbish per year and converts it into electricity. - The only downside is that it uses incineration to convert the waste which produces CO2

Urban Issues and Challenges - Case Study

Urban Change in the UK Environmental Challenges - Birmingham - Part 4

Impact of urban sprawl on the urban-rural fringe The rural-urban fringe is the area on the edge of the urban landscape where the urban and rural land uses mix. The area is under pressure from urban sprawl and is seen as a main area to develop. There are a range of land use demands on the rural-urban fringe; The development of transport networks Growth of suburban residential developments and commuter settlements Edge of town retail parks (Fort Shopping) Modern Industrial Estates built on greenfield sites (Hams Hall) Leisure developments such as golf courses

Growth of commuter settlements? Over the past 40 years, UK cities have seen the movement from the city centre to the

outskirts (suburbs) In the last 10 years, 42,000 people have followed this pattern in Birmingham This has led to an increase in commuting which puts pressure on the roads and public

transport Commuting will increase the amount of air pollution as well In 2011, the number of commuters was between 150,000 and 200,000 people

The West Midlands grew as a major industrial area (known as the city of a thousand trades)

A good example is that in Longbridge (Southern Birmingham) where the former Rover factory was based for nearly 100 years.

1965 it was producing 1/3 of a million cars, employing 25,000 people with its own rail link.

Sadly, due to increasing competition from abroad, the factory closed in 2005 which led to significant job losses and increasing

dereliction.

Urban Regeneration - Example

Birmingham - UK’s second largest city

Eastside (Curzon Street) Regeneration Plan - Aim to create a sustainable urban living 600,000 square metres of new business space will be created (economic) Birmingham University will be developed further (social) A city park and recreational facilities will be expanded (environmental) 2000 new homes will be built (social) 30,000 jobs will be created (economic) An online community will be set up to keep residents up-to-date (social) ThinkTank Science museum was the first part of the project (economic) The abandoned Victorian Aquaduct (Duddleston) could be transformed into a tourist

attraction (“Park in the Sky”) (Social) 2.73ha of additional urban greening will be built on the former car park of Millennium

Point (environmental) New Curzon Station will be built as part of the HS2 railway which will include shops,

offices, hotels and homes around it (social / economic) The STEAM house project will see the former Typhoo tea factory in Digbeth transformed with a £14 million fund to create a creative hub featuring studios, workshops, equipment and staff (social / economic)

Birmingham tasks

Use Google to locate Birmingham. (Think about its location in the UK,

surrounding cities etc)

Identify the different modes of transport that you can get to Birming-

ham to see why it is seen as a transport hub.

What have been the positive impacts of migration to Birmingham

over time?

From the list, what is the biggest economic opportunity in Birming-

ham and why?

From the list, what is the biggest social opportunity in Birmingham

and why?

Outline the different transport routes that have recently been creat-

ed in and around Birmingham (include examples

What are the economic and social challenges of improving areas in

Birmingham? (Think about the changes that have happened in Bir-

mingham recently in the city centre).

Create a small fact file about waste recycling in Birmingham. How

much waste gets recycled in Birmingham and where the recycling

centres are located.