Sometimes referred to as the UK's Detroit, Birmingham is a place where cars once played a dominant role in the urban economy, and where they continue to hold a dominant place in the minds of many civic leaders and over a great deal of the city's public space. As a historian at the University of Birmingham interested in the politics of mobility and accessibility, and having seen his inspiring reworking of conventional advertising online, in 2022 I invited Tom Flood to Birmingham to help us think anew about how our city might be organized in ways that could facilitate diverse and democratic ways of getting around. Equally comfortable and effective on campus and in community settings, in speaking with activists, academics, or local authorities,

Tom guided us through a series of workshops which prompted a rethink of standard-narrative frames for how, and in whose interests, the urban landscape is organized. Speaking with rather than to us, Tom flipped scripts in ways that not only opened our eyes to new ways of seeing things as they are, but also encouraged us to continue to work together toward making what might be. For myself, and I believe for many who attended his workshops, Tom's visit marked a before-and-after point in Birmingham's journey toward becoming a city where one day, owning a car might no longer be a prerequisite for safe and dignified travel to all the places we want and need to go.