Across the UK, towns and cities are being quietly reshaped – made greener, safer and more people-friendly. While these improvements often happen incrementally, their collective impact is powerful. A really intersting new new video from CityEd on YouTube brings this transformation into sharp focus, using simple but striking before-and-after images from Google Street View.
The video tours major cities including Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, Bradford, Edinburgh and Glasgow. What links them all is a clear shift away from car-dominated streets towards places designed for people – with wider pavements, fewer traffic lanes, more trees, better crossings and improved public transport.
In Birmingham’s Digbeth, tram expansion has triggered a complete rethink of the street, replacing five lanes of traffic with greenery and generous pavements that finally do justice to historic buildings. Liverpool’s Strand has been softened into a boulevard, reconnecting the city centre with its waterfront. Sheffield’s Grey to Green programme shows how planting and road downgrades can dramatically improve the look and feel of a city centre.
Elsewhere, regeneration is expanding city centres outward. Manchester’s Great Ancoats Street, Bristol’s Avon Street and Leeds’ Whitehall Road all show how new homes, offices and active ground floors are turning former edge-of-centre roads into thriving urban places. In Bradford, long-awaited investment has transformed the civic heart of the city, while Edinburgh and Glasgow demonstrate how trams, new neighbourhoods and pedestrian links can reconnect communities.
What makes City Ed’s work particularly valuable is its clarity. There is no hype, no glossy renders – just real streets, real change and clear evidence that better design works. By documenting these improvements city by city, the channel provides a hopeful counter-narrative to the idea that Britain’s towns are in decline. You can take a look at the video below and if you find it intersting drop Ed a subscribe!
The message is simple but powerful: with sustained investment and smart planning, British cities are becoming better places to live. And thanks to City Ed, we can all see it happening.
