Bradford Case Study.

Bradford in West Yorkshire, England has a population of 500,000 people, its one of the 10 largest cities in the UK. Its growth is due to the textiles industry, mainly wool, but collapsed during the second half of the 20th century. This was because of the invention of synthetic fabrics. Faced with deindustrialisation, Bradford has been forced to do three things:

• Find a new range of economic activities to support the city.
• Find new uses for the land that was once occupied by the woollen industry.
• Shake off its old image of a rundown city of closed woollen mills - and create a new image of the city.

Bradford has done well in terms of rebuilding its economy, and has now developed chemical, ICT and engineering industries and also some leisure and tourism.

Many of the mills still stand and there exteriors have been converted and smartened into museums, craft centres, galleries, business unit and flats. Other old buildings which were from the woollen industry are also being used for new purposes. Some of the mills which were demolished turned into brownfield sites and new building such as shopping centres were build on the land.

Despite these improvements, the inner city still has improvements to come, these include the quality of life  and the harmony between the different ethnic groups. Bradford has one of the largest non-white populations of the UK.