Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the English West Midlands. Birmingham is the largest of England's core cities, and is generally considered to be the UK's second city. The city's reputation was forged as the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, a fact which led to Birmingham being known as "the workshop of the world" or the "city of a thousand trades".

The City of Birmingham has a population of 992,400 (2004 estimate) [1]. It forms part of the larger West Midlands conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census) and includes several neighbouring towns and cities, such as Solihull, Wolverhampton and the towns of the Black Country.

Birmingham is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. Around 30% of Birmingham's population is of non-white ethnicity; at the time of the 2001 census, 70.4% of the population was White (including 3.2% Irish), 19.5% Asian or Asian British, 6.1% Black or Black British, 0.5% Chinese, and 3.5% of mixed or other ethnic heritage.

News UK

 * Wednesday, February 22 2006 - "Birmingham and Manchester need mayors with tax and spend powers", says thinktank, ippr press release

Comment

 * New Start editorial April 5 2006, If you’re reading this in London or Edinburgh, congratulations. You are an official member of an ideopolis. If you’re in Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle or Glasgow, don’t despair: you’re well on your way.

WikiNode

 * Balsall Heath JUNGLE Wiki ...celebrating the living earth, based in Birmingham, UK, but some of its pages will be useful across the country.

Community involvement

 * Birmingham Community Empowerment Network

General sustainability information

 * Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Related Wikipedia content

 * Transport in Birmingham