ABSTRACT

The UK's second city is situated in the centre of England and dominates the West Midlands conurbation, an industrial region consisting of seven unitary local authorities. Birmingham currently accounts for half of the conurbation's total population of just over two million people and for over a hundred years its metal manufacturing economy drove both regional industry and led the British engineering and automobile sectors. It was in many ways the unfashionable hub of British urban life, with a solid civic tradition and manufacturing base which inspired more respect than admiration.