It is also home to a world-famous orchestra and ballet company, a top class producing theatre and the biggest library in Europe. Only last week I attended one of Birmingham City University's graduation ceremonies after which the former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine opened their gleaming new Parkside complex, housing the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design and the Birmingham School of Media just a short walk across the new Eastside Park from the site of the proposed high-speed rail station at Curzon Street.
Michael Heseltine has fought a lifelong and largely unavailing battle to reverse the relentless transfer of political power and influence from cities like Birmingham to Westminster and Whitehall.
Most recently he championed in vain the idea of a directly-elected mayor, a sort of Boris for Brum. But it wasn't just the sceptical voters in a thinly-supported referendum who turned their backs on the idea: so too did potential candidates including the former CBI boss Digby Lord Jones of Birmingham. He told me that a mayoral remit confined to the city limits would make it impossible for the new role to make a real difference: the city's international airport was actually in Solihull; major strategic transport and planning challenges were no respecters of council boundaries.
Now the talk among die-hards, unwilling to let go of what has become known as the 'sub-regional' agenda, is whether the directly-elected Police and Crime Commissioner, who presides over the pan-West Midlands conurbation, could provide a model capable of being morphed into a blueprint for a new style of political accountability right across Greater Birmingham.
Do they really think towns and cities like Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton, with long and proud traditions of fierce Black Country independence from Birmingham, are suddenly going to throw in their lot with their bigger neighbour? Relations have undoubtedly thawed recently, as we saw last week when the Greater Birmingham and Black Country local enterprise partnerships cooperated so effectively in the "We Still Make Things" campaign.
There is of course a very long way from any suggestion of a Greater Birmingham Council subsuming the likes of Sandwell or Solihull. But one seasoned observer of the local government scene, Paul Dale, reports in The Chamberlain Files blog that he detects a distinct stirring in the dovecotes. Because of "the 'Greater Birmingham' success story Deprivation - with the closure of the manufacturing industry and high unemployment, parts of Birmingham experienced a spiral of social and economic decline leading to deprivation.
Inequalities in housing - Birmingham's high population has resulted in pressures on housing. There is not enough good quality and affordable housing for people in the city. Education - the quality of education was particularly poor in inner city areas such as Aston. Aston is an area of deprivation with an ethnically diverse community where many children struggled to access and succeed in education. Health - in Aston, people with poorer English language skills found it difficult to access healthcare facilities.
Unemployment - the closure of factories in the manufacturing industry led to high unemployment. Dereliction - derelict buildings from the manufacturing industry are common in inner city areas. Building on greenfield sites - this results in the loss of more green space and may make urban sprawl worse.
However building on brownfield sites - this will improve a derelict site as the space is reused for a new development. Birmingham has come a long way from its past of heavy industry — and officials are determined to keep our city clean and green by reducing pollution.
The city has some of the highest environmental targets in Europe, with the council pledging to reduce carbon emissions in the city by 60 per cent by It is the second-largest city, urban area and metropolitan area in England and the United Kingdom, with roughly 1. Wolverhampton Wanderers gained their name following a club merger of church side St.
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