What comes to mind when you think of Birmingham?

That's entirely possible, it wasn't as deep and meaningful as you took it. But it is my opinion of Brum.

I'm rarely in brum for more than a few hours and i've been victim to one attempted theft/mugging in New St station, my mate nearly got pick pocketed 3 times in the bull ring (she is a saft landaner and her bag contents are insured so she wasn't too bothered), that can't be good that the sum total of mayb 20 visits to brum in my life are figure headed by criminal activity...

I agree with you about the jigsaw puzzle analogy, Birmingham was never "designed" different bits were added at different times. And a lot of this randomly added stuff has been rushed and poorly thought out for the long term. This is what makes so much stuff "temporary" things here get knocked down every 20-30 years.

The Hammer and the slogan "forward" sum this up pretty much. So does the bull ring. They wanted to dramatically change the grey mish mash skyline of Birmingham with a fancy new shopping complexes. So they build a flagship shopping centre of which the centrepiece is made of plywood covered in grey plastic discs. basically a big greyish-white building With some green glass and cheap red bricks, which made it look naff and dated before it was even done being built. the council are also deeply proud of Broad street and boast about it at every opportunity, something that does not compute. Custard factory developments are coming along great though, probably because they were private sector.

Anyway, back to your issue of getting mugged/Birmingham crime. I think it simply has a lot to do with being a visitor in the city. the only person I know that has been mugged anywhere near the city centre was a 1st year norwegian student who was on the canal in Ladywood. I cant even remember ever seeing any shifty potential muggers near places like Train Station/high street etc. Never ever seen a mugging/handbag grabbing in the city centre and ive been here a long time.

Everytime I visit London however, I get multiple mugging attempts, more or less on every street corner. Dodgy people wanting to know the time, or me to "come over here" - classic mugger intro's!

Im guessing this happens a lot less for locals. Visitors in places tend to stand out, perhaps looking a little lost. Body language is a powerful thing I think.