- Birmingham is at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, roughly 60K hectares (232 square miles).
- The city’s population is about 1M people (density 9,450/m2), part of a conurbation of over 3.6M people.
- Formerly a few hamlets, it grew explosively during the Industrial Revolution; it’s an 18th, 19th & 20th century city.
- Swathes were badly bombed in WW2, redeveloped in the 1960s.
- Its economy collapsed in the 1980s; it is still heavily dependent on the public sector. There has been significant investment in the central parts of the city over the last 20 years.
- It sits on the Birmingham Plateau, rising 500-1000 ft (150-300m) above sea level, between the basins of the Rivers Severn and Trent. It is served only by minor brooks and streams . . . & canals.
- Water is pumped in from the Elan aquaduct built in 1904.
Originally part of the ancient Forest of Arden, there is still dense oak tree cover, aided by policies of our Quaker philanthropist forebears — there are 94K street trees. Many district names end with “-ley”; others have the name “heath”.
- There is 3.2K hectares of parkland, plus the 1K hectares of Sandwell Valley Originally part of the ancient Forest of Arden, there is still dense oak tree cover, aided by policies of our Quaker philanthropist forebears — there are 94K street tress. Many district names end with “-ley”; some have the name “heath”.
- There is 3.2K hectares of parkland, plus the 1K hectare of Sandwell Valley.
- The city has over 7K allotments, several community orchards, wildflower meadows, Bourneville and Moorpool garden estates, sizeable gardens aplenty.
- The shire counties of the West Midlands has some very fertile agricultural and horticultural land.
- Geologically, the city is dominated by the Birmingham Fault, running from the Lickey Hills in the south-west to Sutton Coldfield in the north-east.
- SE of the fauly, the ground is largely Keuper Marl (layers of siltstone and mudstone) . . .
- To the NW, there is a long ridge of Keuper Sandstone.
- Similar to other UK cities, Birmingham has considerable urban heat effect.
- Relative to other built-up areas in the UK, it is a snowy city due to its inland location and comparatively high elevation.
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