Jordan
@jordanbhx
Citadin & nuisance. West Midlands, Birmingham, urban vitality, town planning, placemaking & sustainable transport. Same as the rest of you, a Twitter refugee.
More affordable buses means more people using them means fewer people driving means idiots who don’t understand second and third order consequences like Mark experience less congestion.
Consultation on Midlands Rail Hub: Key for me: - What happened to the vision for Moor Street? - how does this interchange with HS2? - how will it be coordinated with Adderley Street tram works? - the viaduct is visually prominent and the symbol of Digbeth, will the widening respect the existing?
In a city that priorities health, happiness, wellbeing, sustainability and economic growth it would have looked like this.
Went to pick up some stuff I had framed in Stirchley and walked through this. No trees, no sense of place, too much tarmac, *plastic* cladding. This should have been 5 storey courtyard blocks with terraces overlooking the park & 5 mins from the station. A wasted opportunity.
Some of the assessment scoring and weighting in the Longbridge Corridor Mass Rapid Transit study is crap. This routes needs a tram, not a bendy bus that experience tells us takes just as long, if not longer, to deliver anyway.
What I like about Rotterdam is that there is the talent, civic confidence and political will to take buildings that are typical of the place but that many would consider ugly and reimagine them as places full of colour, fun, learning and culture. It feels authentic and unique.
100,000 people in Delft. A 4 platform through station with local heritage design details, bus and tram interchange, several thousand space cycle parking garage with subtly integrated entrance/exit and car parking somewhere but I can’t find where. The UK is a third world country.
Incredible swing to the Greens. I remain optimistic that a Coalition of Hope will come forward but I’m worried that bringing three parties together with a few independents will result in so many councillors wanting paid positions it risks collapse and we’ll get a worst of all worlds coalition.
Some lovely installations for BrumPark(ing)Day showcasing how much more valuable parking spaces are when they’re places to meet and socialise. Imagine if we closed half of Caroline Street to traffic and spread the greenery and the public space along its whole length
Another attempt by Lidl to turn Northfield into an American strip mall. Unsustainable, single storey, congestion causing ugliness. It conflicts with plans for an A38 cycle route and I’ll let you decide how convincing this ‘local distinctiveness’ claim is. Objections encouraged. 2025/04646/PA
Looking forward to this, although given how many architecture practices have offices in the JQ it’s disappointing that more of them aren’t taking part. Road space reallocation for more green space is essential to ensure the JQ grows and thrives. Get involved.
A scheme that makes streets safer is only ‘divisive’ to people who are intent on making streets more dangerous.
Anything attached to lampposts has to be removed so they can be upgraded. This transparently cynical politicking is tantamount to them opposing upgrades to street lighting to make streets safer, particularly for women, at night.
It’s been 356 days since a road safety emergency was declared. The cabinet member has made no progress on any recommended action. The healthy streets audit hasn’t been released. The Cllr who established this at scrutiny has been deselected. The injunction does nothing.
Rail passenger numbers have been released for 2023-2024 and as predicted by literally everyone who knows anything about transport, they have already surpassed pre-Covid figures. Birmingham’s passenger growth second only to London.
When roads are built like racetracks rather than for safety or efficient people movement, ‘high court injunction against street cruising’ signs have all the authority of the ‘do no tumble dry’ label & just demonstrate how little interest there is in fixing the problem. We must redesign our streets.
However, you must be entirely disconnected from the reality to submit comments like this that are not only demonstrably stupid but written in such a dismissive and patronising way in spite of that very stupidity. Nothing positive added here. 36/n
Well done if you’ve made it this far - I had to take a short break - but I’ve saved the best for last. I really like 2022/08392/PA - it’s the retention and repurposing of the lovely Chamber of Commerce House in Edgbaston, improved landscaping and some sensitively inserted new blocks. 29/n
Next, 2024/03375/PA is back after being rightfully deferred because there was no ground floor activation. Now I say that because it’s true. Ground floor ‘terraces’ on blocks of flats end up being used for storage and PBSA ‘amenity space’ is never used. 17/n
Will councillors pick it up before the meeting? If CIL hasn’t been included because it’s not actually PBSA, what is it? Ok next up: 2024/07149/PA, the hotel at Edgbaston Stadium. 5/n
First up, a boring student housing scheme: 2024/02897/PA This was originally proposed as a hotel and now here we are. Unremarkable bit of filler that ought to be residential or a hotel. It’s red of course. Cllrs will probably ask for another study of PBSA demand. 2/n
Val d’Europe is an uncanny Parisian suburb built in 1987. There’s a station with RER suburban and LGV connections, walkable, tree lined streets, good density, architectural identity, public spaces and amenities. It’s not perfect but still better than anything built in the UK in the last 35 years.
Wolverhampton, don’t be like Birmingham. Your brutalist architecture is part of the city’s history, its identity and its cultural memory. The Art School is iconic enough for me to have a print of it, it should be renovated and celebrated, not demolished. www.expressandstar.com/news/local-h...
White Americans are so afraid of ‘foreign invaders erasing indigenous culture’ because that’s white Americans’ thing.