Urban Environmentalism in Action, Essay Example

The chapter begins by providing an overview of the location of Birmingham in the heart of England. As a snapshot, the chapter generally provides a justification of the competitiveness and the quality of life in Birmingham as a portrayal of urban environmentalism in action.  In terms of development and economy, the city is an industrial hub contributing to the industrial wellness of the Midlands Conurbation and the population of the city is about 50% of the entire population of the Midlands.

Birmingham, which bears its establishment from the industrial revolution with an economical basis arising from the steel and metal manufacturing industry that led to a thriving automobile industry, grew to garner respect as a powerful British hub for urban life. The city continued to prosper economically and to grow in urban coverage even through the twentieth century including the post war period. Nevertheless, the rapid expansion of sectors like engineering and automobile brought a turning point to the city as it quickly translated to technological stagnation due to declining profits.  The author notes that this stagnation necessitated an invention of another perspective that would see the success of Birmingham and hence gain back its acclaim as a modernity city. The author labels this as an environmental discourse in restructuring of the city and pinpoints three basic points that help it to achieve it.

The first point is that the environment was taken as an integral part of the city’s spatial planning thus providing ample room for circulation of capital that had previously been stuck in the stagnated automobile and engineering industries of the city.

Secondly, the introduction of the environmental sustainability policy was carefully coined into the existing political process thus slightly divorcing it from the view of rational progression yet integrating it carefully into the economic power of the city. Lastly, the concept of integrative environmental quality intermarried with the rationale of ecology provided a framework that gave impetus to the city’s sustainable development.