Although Birmingham certainly was on my list of relocation cities, the poor reputation that preceded it turned it into more of a tourist / resort destination. Of five nights, I only went to the city center once. It was more than enough to see the enormous shopping districts that the city is known for, most notably the Bullring. Besides that, there was little else to see as I wandered around the circumference of the downtown area. I did see all the sights that caught my attention in the Wikipedia entry:
- Brindleyplace Canal, the most famous of the canals that traverse the city
- The Selfridge building is an architectural marvel, a soft voluptuous form covered in contemporary rhinestones
- Deighton is the neighborhood just South of the city that is supposedly the hippest area to live, housing the Custard Factory shopping area
Thus, as everyone suggested, Birmingham is definitely not an option. Now I head to Manchester, the cultural opposite of Birmingham. Every person I have ever met mentioned Manchester before or after London as the best relocation city. However, since it did not fulfill my finite city criteria, I figured I would stop for a tourist visit and that was all. The problem is that Manchester is less than 40 minutes travel from Liverpool, another metropolis of significant size. Add that to Sheffield and Leeds, which are both less than an hour away, and you have accumulated a region that is similar in size to London, if not larger. Manchester never really ends, so to leave the city and find some nature will take at least an hour’s drive, an infinite city. Nevertheless, very few United Kingdom cities can fulfill this criteria, making it likely only relevant in the New World, that is The Americas, Australia, &c young colonies that have enough space not to prize efficient, dense building . Since I was able to find suitable cities, I stuck to it. But now, with only one livable option in the UK (Bristol), we can safely say it is not working. Additionally, all my other criteria have already been disregarded, so that questions the validity of this final one.
Discarding the finite city specification, would open up at least 4 new cities to consider: Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Leeds. Finally, London could also be considered, especially more manageable commuter cities like Cambridge and Oxford. Now I am basically back to square one, though with the benefit of having traveled all my first choice cities…
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