Birmingham
Birmingham is the UK’s second city, with a population of around 1 million. It grew rapidly through the 18th and 19th centuries as a major force in the industrial revolution, its strength built on small specialised workshops with a highly skilled workforce. However, the city suffered considerably from the effects of globalisation, deindustrialisation and the waves of recession that hit the UK and global economies in the second half of the 20th century. |
The case study area of Longbridge, in the south of the city, has been particularly hard hit, being the location of an important car manufacturing plant, MG Rover. Following redundancies and partial closure of the site in the 1990s and early 2000s, MG Rover went into administration in 2005 with the loss of around 10,000 jobs. A private developer has been leading the regeneration of the area, including housing, a new shopping centre, a youth centre as well as the relocation of a further education college. An extensive consultation process was held at the beginning of the regeneration programme, to allow local communities to feed into the process.