Herbert Manzoni isn’t exactly a household name—unless your nan's house was knocked down to make way for a ring road. But there’s no denying the mark he left on the city. Born in 1899, Manzoni trained as a civil engineer before becoming Birmingham’s City Engineer in 1935 and Planning Officer in 1938. With war damage, traffic chaos, and outdated housing pressing down on the city, he saw a rare opportunity to start over. “ Herbert always had a ruler in one hand and the future in the other.” — Charles Bird, Assistant Engineer, Birmingham City Council (1971) Manzoni believed in mobility, efficiency, and clean modern living. Victorian Birmingham, with its cramped back-to-backs and narrow streets, didn’t meet his brief. During his tenure as Birmingham City Engineer and Surveyor (1935–1963), and with housing a major focus of urban redevelopment, he spearheaded some of the most significant and controversial projects in Birmingham’s modern history. His belief that "The slum cannot be...
Crisp talk, sweet reviews, car, train, transport & tech chat, pics of food/street vomit/wolf fleeces/windsocks/three-quarter length trousers, plus hackneyed jokes, lazy musings, ill-informed opinions, biting satire, music, events, comedy & cinema, with tales of high jinks, scraperism & japerism, travel pics, drivel, twaddle, Popmaster, & comment from a middle aged man living in South Birmz, who frankly should know better, and is trying to make sense of the world. Would recommend.