Stef Lewandowski
Create something every day

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the “Who wants to redesign Birmingham?” post. You really blew me away!

So - I’ve just got back from two days of discussions, speeches, presentations, private chats, video interviews, and so on.

I’m condensing everything into a blog post outlining what was said and decided, but before I do that I thought I’d let you know that yes, your comments were heard because I made sure I kept dropping them into conversation, in my speech on Authenticity, in discussions and in the smaller break out sessions that we had during the two-day “Birmingham - the Big City Plan - Big Ideas” event.

So - here are the ones that got a specific mention, but thanks go to everyone for sharing your thoughts.

Charlotte’s comment on family - I talked about this a fair bit using some of my own personal experience. There is an entire part of the plan to do with families.

Tom, Karl, Jean-Luc et al on the logo/brand issue - we talked about this in a breakout session on Authenticity and Diversity - basically it will come down to cash/will/a better option. Michael Wolff has been heard, and we talked about how the concept that Audi’s brand is as much about business process as it is about what you see in print/web. It’s an inherent quality, and any branding of a city or geographic place needs to feel connected to a shared identity and set of ideals/qualities.

Jean-Luc on architectural quality control, transport - yep. This was a very very big part of the discussions - I didn’t quote you directly, but have a read of the next few blog posts for some idea of what was discussed. Think you’ll be happy with what was said, however the Underground idea was very much shelved - this really does look like an impossible feat. On the Independents. Yep - I hammered that one home very hard indeed. I don’t think there is any argument that the mayor issue needs to happen. And Digby Jones’s name came up in conversation a couple of times…

mc on making sure citizens get representation / invited to the table - yep. We talked about this a fair bit and I have a few exciting ideas coming in my next post.

Tess - I seemed to be the only person using the term ‘psychogeography’ but it certainly influenced my thinking on what I presented. Lots of interesting ideas coming out of this - and I hope that we’ll see something interesting happen here… and I specifically mentioned your opinion on the problem of the walk from ‘city centre’ (New St. etc.) to the Custard Factory area.

And in something of a ballsy move, I hijacked the very final word of the whole two-day event, quoting Paul Ashton’s comment:

The redesigned Birmingham should never forget its roots.

“Forward!” I say, “Encourage the anti-Establishment, Embrace Hard Work and Industry, Despise those who Cower behind can’t-do rule books, and above all, Have Fun doing it.”

Keep the ghost of Matthew Boulton happy!

This got a round of ‘hear hear’s and summarised the whole event in a way that seemed thoroughly appropriate. So Paul - well done, thanks for the visionary words. The organisers spoke to me afterwards, and they would like to use this on the front page of the document summarising the whole event.

Nice one. Thanks again for your thoughts, everyone.

More to come!