Birmingham,

UK

Blighted by a motorway intersection tearing through its heart, for decades Birmingham was a byword for the worst excesses of post-war industrial planning. Yet in recent years, huge regeneration projects have breathed life into the second city’s hulking Victorian architecture and crisscrossing canals. Now the rippling silver arc of the Future Systems-designed Selfridges building dominates the steely skies of a bustling 21st century city, proud of its industrial heritage and happily celebratory of the waves of immigrants that have brought colour and chaos to its grey urban streets. In the words of local boy Ozzy Osbourne: “you’ve come a long way, kiddo.”