On a recent trip to Vancouver and the Rockies, I fell in love with Canada, its compact urban centres, wide-open spaces and large-scale mountainous landscapes.
Node has recently produced an exciting strategy to improve the public realm within Wolverhampton city centre, working alongside JMP and Place Marque. Wolverhampton is promoting a number of new developments, infrastructure upgrades and regeneration initiatives to revitalise its city centre.
Looking out of the window this morning on to a rainy Birmingham, I think that the subject of this blog article is pretty apt. What happens to rain water once it reaches the ground can have a huge impact not only on where it falls, but further downhill, or downstream. Flash floods can be caused when runoff from surfaces and buildings overwhelms the sewers and drains.
Across Birmingham, the lights have been switched on, giant fir trees have appeared, and perhaps best of all: the Germans have arrived! For the next month, the city centre is transformed into a Frankfurt inspired market, with the smell of candied nuts and garlic mushrooms wafting temptingly along New Street, gluhwein and weissbier on offer from 10am and the irrepressible draw of a singing moose gathering people into Victoria Square.
