Birmingham

United Kingdom / England / Birmingham /
Birmingham (pron. IPA: /ˈbɝmɪŋəm/ Burr-ming-am) is a city in and a constituent part of the metropolitan county of the West Midlands, England. Birmingham is the largest of England's core cities, and is often considered to be the second city of the United Kingdom. The City of Birmingham has a population of 1,006,500 (2006 estimate). 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.

The city's reputation was forged as a 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".

Today Birmingham is a major international commercial centre, ranked as a beta− world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network; and an important transport, retail, events and conference hub. With a GDP of $90bn (2008 estimate, PPP), the economy of the urban agglomeration is the second largest in the UK and the 72nd largest in the world. Birmingham's three universities and two university colleges make it the largest centre of higher education in the United Kingdom outside London, and its major cultural institutions, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, enjoy international reputations. The Big City Plan is a large redevelopment plan currently underway in the city centre with the aim of making Birmingham one of the top 20 most liveable cities in the world within 20 years.

People from Birmingham are known as 'Brummies', a term derived from the city's nickname of 'Brum'. This may originate from the city's dialect name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the city's earlier names, 'Bromwicham'. There is a distinctive Brummie dialect and accent, both of which differ from the adjacent Black Country.

for City electoral wards & Parliamentary Constituencies map see :
www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename...

For detailed BCC on-line digital map of City limits used in drawing attached polygon see :
www.planvu.co.uk/bcc/bcc.php
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   52°29'47"N   1°52'52"W

Comments

  • I sometimes go to Birmingham for shopping especially the Bull Ring Shopping Centre theres a lot to see.
  • born and bred in brum :) best place to live
  • best place to live if you have no choice in the matter
  • my dream place ...got my love here in birmingham....for me its romantic city...where i got my life....
  • Birmingham is the place to be. Multicultural city
  • born and bred in birmingham dont live there for now, maybe the biggest mistake of my life..............
  • A really great city, often missed by tourists to UK. GO there-you will be amazed how big it is!!
  • Brum gets a LOT of stick, especially from people who've never been here. It has a dirty past with lots of industry and canals but the council is doing sterling work to revamp the city's image and bring the fight for second city status to our biggest rival Manchester. It's an up-and-coming city (again) and not to be missed!
  • for Forum thread on the appropriate basis upon which to map boundaries of administrative areas in the UK see @ : http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8629&p=187378#p187378
  • Show all comments