Subject : economic development
Entitled : strategic planning in Birmingham
Country : Great Britain
City : Birmingham
Key figures :
- Surface : 267,8 km²
- Population : 977 087 habitants
- Unemployment rate : 9,5 %
- Institutional organisation : Birmingham is divided in eleven electoral boards, each of which elects a member of parliament (MP) to the chamber of commons.
Project description :
The project began with a far-reaching program for the conversion of the city centre, as to attract new technology industries and to create step by step a new, modern and lively city centre following the example of other big European cities. Business tourism was one of the first objectives the program was aiming at.
Little by little as the strategy evolved, all along the 1980’s, the approach has been progressively enlarged as to integrate programs of social action, education and professional training. In the middle of the 1990’s the strategic approach advanced even more : the new program Birmingham City Pride has been integrated and aimed at a closer implication of the various local partners in strategic planning action while at the same time more systematic efforts have been displayed to reinforce citizen participation in the strategic planning process.
Finally, in 1999, the municipality launched two new operations confirming it’s strategic method : on the one hand they modified the structures of it’s decision making process in the political field and on the other hand they gave a new impulsion to it’s initiative « Local Involvement Local Action » by implicating citizens on a local level.
The strategic planning approach in Birmingham should therefore be considered as a long series of processes, connected more or less efficiently to each other.
If such an approach might generate a certain complexity, it presents nonetheless the advantage of allowing the municipal council and other public agencies to concentrate on each of the important problem fields.
Other advantage : the strategic planning processes can evolve with time, with the final aim to integrate the different more or less successful solutions by way of numerous working groups and organisations.
Realisation dates : 1990-1999
Financing : Local authorities, private actors
For more information :
