Some think of Birmingham, England as 'grim, drab, industrial waste,' but a spectacular new building could change everything for the old industrial city.
"The common joke has been that Britain's much maligned No. 2 city was so unsightly that its downtown tangle of freeways, known as Spaghetti Junction, had more lanes taking you out of the city than in." However, Birmingham could be in store for a bright future. "The reason for the turnaround is a world-class architectural showplace in the city's center, substituting Birmingham's old symbols of sooty foundries and lumpen, Eastern-bloc-style apartment towers with the alluring sight of a curvy undulating structure with a glittering surface of 15,000 reflective aluminum discs on a sheer cobalt blue skin..." Already critics are calling the building "astonishing" and comparing it to Gehrys work in Bilbao. New tourists may re-examine some of the city's older amenities: Though it is one of the world's original industrial cities, Birmingham has more parks than any other city in Britain...[It has] created Symphony Hall, a classical musicians' favorite as one of Europe's finest acoustical spaces...It also has more canals than Venice...Birmingham is also the most culturally diverse city in Britain, with nearly a third of its 976,000 citizens from ethnic minorities."
Thanks to David Gest
FULL STORY: Britain's No. 2 City Gets Respect (After All These Years)

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie