As the architect Rem Koolhaas noted: “Infrastructure is much more important than architecture.”
While the built environment has tremendous power to transform our cities and improve the lives of millions, without the fundamental building blocks of transport, power and governance even the best developments will fail.
So which are the most blessed cities when it comes to providing the perfect foundations? EG’s Connected Cities Index reveals the current frontrunners.
Birmingham clearly has some justification for its “Second City” claim. It comes top in five of our metrics, and only really misses out by not having plans for a freeport – a cause of some contention in the West Midlands.
In many other aspects it shines. Despite having fewer mainline rail platforms than Edinburgh and Glasgow – their 25 and 24 respectively knock Birmingham’s 20 into bronze – the Midlands powerhouse holds the top spot for the number of rail journeys. The latest figures from the government’s Office for Rail and Road show 9.7m getting on and off trains at Birmingham’s main stations during 2020-21. But this is a Covid-impacted figure, and is dwarfed by the pre-pandemic rate of nearly 66m. Manchester and Glasgow trail behind with just under 50m each pre-Covid, dropping to around 8m during the pandemic.
Birmingham is also leading the way in a rather greener form of transportation. According to the latest figures from Colas, a transport service provider, and BikeMap, a route planning app, Birmingham now boasts the largest network of cycle lanes, with more than 180,000 km criss-crossing the city. Edinburgh is a close second with just under 178,000 km, while many cities on our list have barely a tenth of that. To put that into perspective, the average is just over 80,000 km.
| City | Number of National Rail platforms | Rail entries, exits and interchanges, 2020-21 (millions) | Rail entries and exits, 2019-20 (millions) | Distance to nearest international airport (miles) | Cycle lanes (km) |
| Birmingham | 20 | 9.7 | 65.9 | 10 | 182,337 |
| Bristol | 13 | 2.8 | 14 | 7.8 | 107,084 |
| Cardiff | 8 | 2.2 | 13 | 12 | 60,458 |
| Edinburgh | 25 | 3.2 | 23.1 | 8.1 | 177,882 |
| Glasgow | 24 | 8.7 | 49.1 | 9.1 | 86,093 |
| Leeds | 18 | 6.4 | 31 | 8 | 29,846 |
| Liverpool | 13 | 7.7 | 32.5 | 8.3 | 49,836 |
| Manchester | 18 | 7.8 | 48.1 | 8.7 | 13,470 |
| Newcastle | 12 | 1.6 | 8.8 | 7.4 | 34,381 |
| Nottingham | 7 | 1.5 | 7.9 | 14 | 22,938 |
| Sheffield | 9 | 2.1 | 10.1 | 23 | 33,198 |
| Southampton | 4 | 1.7 | 8 | 4.1 | 14,692 |
Power supply is also a major advantage for developers in Birmingham. It is just one of four of our cities that is predominantly green on the National Grid’s heat map for electricity supply, meaning that there is more than enough capacity for new developments to be plugged in to the network. Cardiff, Leeds and Nottingham also boast an abundance of power. By contrast, half of our cities are predominantly red, meaning that they have very restricted capacity for new development, while two, Newcastle and Glasgow, are amber.
Birmingham is also one of seven cities on our list to benefit from having a metro mayor or combined authority, giving it access to a £1.3bn infrastructure funding pot. And while Bristol was keen to get rid of its city mayor at the last local elections, it has retained its metro mayor, meaning that it, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield also gain from devolution deals. Wales and Scotland have yet to adopt metro mayors, meaning Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow miss out on a similar boost.
But while being in the dead centre of England has helped Birmingham secure its position as that nation’s second city, it does mean it fares less well in a couple of the other metrics. It is the furthest city from a major seaport, with some 85 miles coming between it and the nearest commercial dock. This is in stark contrast to the likes of Liverpool, Southampton and Glasgow, which have effectively been built around their ports.
| City | Freeport | Metro mayor? | Universities ranked in the global top 1,000 | Distance to nearest major sea port (miles) | Dominant colour on national grid heat map |
| Birmingham | No | Yes | 2 | 85 | Green |
| Bristol | No | Yes | 2 | 6.5 | Red |
| Cardiff | No | No | 1 | 14 | Green |
| Edinburgh | Shortlisted Green Port – Leith, Grangemouth and Rosyth | No | 3 | 2.7 | Red |
| Glasgow | Shortlisted Green Port – Clyde | No | 2 | 27 | Amber |
| Leeds | No | Yes | 1 | 69 | Green |
| Liverpool | Yes – Liverpool City Region | Yes | 2 | 1 | Red |
| Manchester | No | Yes | 3 | 30 | Red |
| Newcastle | Yes – Teesside Freeport | Yes | 2 | 8 | Amber |
| Nottingham | Yes – East Midlands Airport | No | 2 | 74 | Green |
| Sheffield | No | Yes | 1 | 62 | Red |
| Southampton | Yes – Solent | No | 1 | 0 | Red |
Sources: National Rail, ORR, Apple Maps, Colas, Bikemap, Gov.uk, QS Top Universities, UK Ports, Northern Power Grid, SP Energy Networks, Electricity North West, Western Power Distribution
Glasgow and Edinburgh are also in the running to have a green freeport. The Scottish parliament is in the process of choosing two sites from a shortlist of five. Four of our other cities benefit from England’s freeport regime, with Liverpool, Newcastle and Southampton all making the most of their coastal links. But Nottingham proves that Birmingham needn’t let its geography stand in its way. Nottingham, 74 miles from the nearest seaport, is nevertheless part of the East Midlands Freeport, centred around its regional airport. And this is despite Nottingham being relatively far away from its nearest international airport, too, which is 14 miles away. There Southampton fares best, with its airport a mere 4 miles from the city centre.
It isn’t just the hard infrastructure that matters. Softer infrastructure is also a vital component when assessing these cities, especially metrics that feed into the supply of highly skilled and educated workforces. Because of this, we have included the number of leading universities that each city has, ranked within the top 1,000 universities in the world by several surveys. Edinburgh and Manchester lead the way, with an impressive three a-piece. Six other cities have two top ranked universities. But, promisingly, every single one of our cities has least one, suggesting a robust base for economic growth.
Now bring on the architecture…
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
