Birmingham Case study Flashcards
Explain the reason for location for Birmingham?
The site of Birmingham was at a bridging point which provided good access for people located on both sides of the River Rea .
The situation of Birmingham relative to natural resources led to the growth of its industries
Structure of Birmingham:
The CBD-central business district is one of the oldest and most important parts of the city dominated by department stores, specialist and variety goods shops, offices and hotels This is the heart of the city and the centre of local government, Many buildings in the
CBO are quite new following redevelopment projects.
such as the new Bullring shopping centre. The quality
of the environment in the CBD is quite high with some
open green space, Because land here is expensive
the building density is high, with buildings both close
together and taller than in the rest of the city.
Beyond the CBD are the 19th-century inner-city
areas, which were redeveloped in the 1970s into
comprehensive development areas (CDA) Here.
the buildings are tower blocks of flats or high density
terraces. There are few shops, even fewer factories and
a few churches with limited open green space.
The suburbs extend beyond the inner zone and occupy
a large part of the city’s area. Some of the suburbs were
built In Victorian times, while others were ult in the.
1930s, 1950s and 19605 Some ae centres of council
housing (many of which have been purchased) and
others were bult as private estates. Here the density
of bins low, and the and uses mainly housing.
with a few shops and some good quality green space.
Explain Urbanisation in Birmingham?
Urbanisation (18th and 19th centuries)
Urbanisation in Birmingham was based on the
manufacture of jewellery, guns buttons and bass
before factory production in the 19th century led to
rapid urbanisation. New estates were built-in a hurry
in places like Small Heath, Selly Oak for
people arriving from the countryside
Suburbanisation (1920s and 1930s)
Birmingham hod to expand and in the 1920s
suburbanisation saw large estates of both council
houses and private houses built: mostly semi-detached
houses, on large areas of Land. These estates often
lacked shops and clinics. However, they were lid out
With wee relined roads and grass verges nan
attempt 10 maintain the quay of the environment.
Counter-urbanisation (1970s onwards)
Counter-urbanisation involves people abandoning
cities in favour of areas which are more rural. in the.
case of Birmingham this movement was boosted by the
redevelopment of the city’s inner-city areas. Here five
new COAs were created by demolishing all the 19th-
century terraces and courts. The redevelopment forced
people to move out either 1 estates on the edge of the
urban area or to new towns like Redditch.
Re-urbanisation (after 1990)
More people now want to live close to the amenities
the city centre offers. New apartments have been but
near the canals and n converted factories across the
city centre. Birmingham in the process of ging self
facelift by actively redeveloping pars of is CBD and
inner areas. Olde tower blocks have been refurbished,
and new centres developed like the Mailbox a mixture of shopping. leisure, offices and apartments
Reasons for national migration in Birmingham:
-better job prospects
-Migration to retire
-study(2nd biggest student city in the Uk with 5 universities)
Reasons for international migration into Birmingham:
-1950’s shortage of workers, so imported from former colonies
-Better jobs and living standards
-Refugees flee from conflict
Impacts of international migration in Birmingham:
-since immigrants favoured inner city terraced housing, they began to open businesses that cater to them and build places of worship and form communities
Key facts about Birmingham’s population:
Just over 1.1 million people live in the city. Since 2004, the population has increased by almost 100,000 (this is an average of 0.9 % per year). This growth is caused by a rising birth rate and falling death rate, combined with migration from the UK and internationally. Birmingham is one of the UK’s most diverse cities with 42% of its inhabitants from ethnic groups other than white.
Explain Reasons for De-industrialisation in Birmingham
Globalisation This is the process by which cities become part of a world market. In Birmingham this meant that its industries of car and motorcycle manufacture suffered badly in the 1970s from imported vehicles from Japan and western Europe.
De-centralisation The 1970s were also a time of de- centralisation in Birmingham when many inner-city areas were redeveloped. Factories were either closed and demolished, or they moved out of the city.
Technological advances The development of new technologies associated with metal manufacture were slow to be applied to the older factories in Birmingham. As a result some firms went out of business because they did not have the new technology which often made the goods cheaper.
Transport developments Part of the redevelopment of central Birmingham in the 1970s was the construction of an inner ring road. In order to build the new road, older factories, warehouses and houses had to be demolished. Some of these factories never reopened and others moved away from Birmingham.
Impacts of De-industrialisation in birmingham?
-Factories and business close
-Factories moved out of town
-Workers made redundant
-Large scale pollution where there was formerly heavy industry
-Brownfield sites
-Factories closed
-Large Scale unemployment
Explain Inequalities in Birmingham?
There are few factories, providing few local jobs, with the result that people have to travel to find work and this adds to the expense.
Many of the new jobs are only part-time or temporary and do not pay well.
There may be some discrimination against newcomers and some racial discrimination, though this is being actively tackled and overcome.
The large number of people arriving in a short time makes it hard to provide what is needed quickly, for example schools and health services.
Older houses in these areas can be damp and hard to heat and this can lead to health issues.
Many migrants are well qualified, for example as doctors, dentists and lecturers; but in the 21st century people with few qualifications find it harder to find good quality jobs.
Explain differences in Quality of Life in Birmingham
Some suburban areas of the city, such as Sutton Coldfield, remain prosperous as they have been for a long time and here the quality of life is seen as good with relatively low crime rates, high purchasing power, a wide range of shops, and low air and water pollution. Dissatisfaction with rubbish collection is moderate, as are complaints about light and noise pollution, but there are many areas of green space. In inner-city Sparkbrook there is some deprivation but people are generally not unhappy with the quality. of their lives. There is a wide range of shops selling produce from all over the world, including specialist vegetable and other shops. There are concerns over crime, or more accurately the way the media dubbed the city the gun capital of the UK. There is some concern over air pollution and rubbish collection, and areas further from the there is less green space than the city centre, but the quality of life is still seen by most people as good.
Explain the changes in retailing and waves of decentralisation.
In the early 1990s, the CBD changed as a result of de-centralisation in the city.
The first wave of de- centralisation was the 19th-century movement of people away from the high-cost, noisy, polluted city centre to the suburbs.
The second wave of de- centralisation saw the movement of manufacturing industry away from the city centre to the suburbs, such as Bournville in 1879.
In the 1970s, the third wave of de-centralisation was the movement of retail shops out of the city centre. New shopping centres opened in suburbs and then out-of-town shopping centres began to be developed in the 1980s, such as Merry Hill in Dudley. This was the site of a former steel works but then it became a massive new shopping centre in 1985. This created real competition for central Birmingham and between 1990 and 1995 trade in the centre declined by 12%.
The fourth wave of de-centralisation saw the growth. of internet shopping, More people own computers and have discovered the ease of online shopping. However, Birmingham has been able to avoid a drop in trade by further redevelopment of the city centre.
How did Birmingham redevelop its city centre?
In the 1980s, Birmingham city centre realised it needed to fight back against the out-of-town developments. This was achieved through : a series of flagship projects which included the building of the International Convention Centre (ICC) in 1991 and the National Indoor Arena (now the Barclaycard Arena) in 1992 pedestrianising the city centre to make a more pleasant shopping environment encouraging stores to have late-night opening. As a result, trade in Birmingham city centre grew by 5% between 1995 and 1997. However, retailing in the city continued to change and develop in response to changing local and national conditions. In 1998, the Mailbox opened in Birmingham. This former Royal Mail sorting office was converted into high-end retail shops (Harvey Nichols), restaurants and offices. In 2003, the Bullring shopping centre (Figure 11) was reopened after a major makeover. This created a modern shopping centre with parking in an enclosed centrally heated mall. The next phase was the redevelopment of the New Street station area which has become the new Grand Central shopping centre.
How does Birmingham’s recycling rate compare to England’s average
The recycling rate for England was 43.5% in 2013; Birmingham achieved 30.1% so clearly still has a way to go in its recycling programme.
Explain ways Birmingham is becoming more sustainable?
Green transport Birmingham has a range of buses (some powered by gas) used to reduce car transport and pollution in the city. The city has a network of bus lanes which also help to persuade more people to use them for their journeys to work. Electric vehicles were used as part of the CABLED project (Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators 2009-2012).
Birmingham has 571 parks covering 3500 hectares (ha, 35 km²) more than any other european city.
In 2010, Birmingham ranked 15th in the list of sustainable cities in the UK (Table 4). Birmingham reduced carbon emissions in 2009/10 by 12%, that is by 745 tonnes. Birmingham created 1000 new jobs in the Grand Central development in 2016 and each new development adds to the jobs total. Birmingham is working hard to build new schools for its children and to improve the quality of the education offered. There is continued investment in energy-efficient measures for housing, such as the new homes in Balsall Heath.
