Tag Archives: Birmingham
Cycling Copenhagen Style in Birmingham
This title is drawn from the recent press release (here) from Birmingham City Council outlining a new survey and reporting system to document peoples views on cycling in the city and progress in encouraging more of us to cycle on a biennial basis. It wants to emulate an approach put in place in Copenhagen – […]
Birmingham’s Carbon Road Map – launched – Well done Birmingham City Council
I haven’t got time to do a full review, but as it is a very important document for the City and it has come out today I have literally skim read it. (Download it here) It does look very promising. Whilst it is good to look at, ie up to coffee table standard it is […]
Closure of the A38 tunnels; the City coped well – so lets think longer term
I don’t avidly look at reports produced by Birmingham City Council but what are interesting sometimes are the reports presented to the Overview and Scrutiny panels. I came across an interesting one today; a report on how well the city’s transportation system had coped with the closure in the summer of the A38 tunnels. Now […]
Birmingham’s Mobility Action Plan – Wow what a Game Changer!
I have waited quite a time for this plan but the wait has been worthwhile. It is perhaps the most fundamental change in thinking this city has proposed in the last 30 years – ever since the city centre regeneration work got under way. So what is so radical about it. Well for once it […]
Photography and Cities
Well to be honest Stockholm and Birmingham but this could apply elsewhere. I recently came back from Stockholm where outside of work I discovered Fotografiska – a wonderful photography gallery in a converted dockside warehouse which was packed with visitors even though it was way of the beaten track. It is a bit like the […]
Birmingham’s Green Spaces Living plan: An action plan or a coffee table book
Birmingham’s Green Spaces Living Plan is as usual a thorough document with great analysis; it cross refers to a weight of other strategies documents, partnerships and support groups but its shortest section is on Implementation and Funding; a section which to be honest I don’t understand. It has worthy aims and does show a few […]
City Regions and LEPs – the need for much closer Local Authority Working
I have just printed off Albert Bore’s Annual Policy statement (APS) for Birmingham City Council. This summarises achievements of the Council and lays out ambitions for the future year. I must say it is really very interesting and for anyone interested in the overall direction of the Council it is a must read. It could […]
A435 Corridor: Connected Communities of Maypole, Kings Heath, Moseley, Balsall Heath and Digbeth #Birmingham
I have been thinking about this corridor as I regularly walk, catch a bus and drive up and down it. I think the time has come for a radical approach to the whole corridor. Moseley is currently working on its local plan but what is needed and has been discussed is a wider vision linking […]
Why Cities Should Act Internationally
The recent release of Birmingham’s new European and International Strategy reminded me that for so long international work of cities has been under attack for wasting resources. So much so that Cities are often reluctant to sing about their international work. In the world of openness we live almost all of the international activity is […]
Boris Launches His Vision for London 2020: lessons for Birmingham
Boris Johnson launched his vision for London yesterday (details here) gaining significant press and twitter coverage . In skim reading it it leapt out at me that this sort of summary overview; this distillation of objectives is what is missing certainly in Birmingham and possibly other cities. Now the document might be a little too […]
UrbanPivot 