Bristol was mentioned on BBC Two documentary History of Now: The Story of the Noughties last night, as along with several other cities its centre has changed beyond recognition in the last ten years.

In the context of the show, however, the changes that have taken place to the landscape of Bristol’s city centre are those related to shopping. Easy credit throughout the last decade meant that the masses could afford to buy luxury goods, so shops like Harvey Nichols appear selling handbags for thousands of pounds.

Bristol’s city centre did not change beyond recognition over the noughties, apart from the appearance of Cabot Circus, which whatever the PR guff is simply a glorified shopping centre.

What got me thinking that Bristol really has missed a trick was mention of the so-called Bilbao effect, when ambitious cities across the world commissioned exciting architects to create a building, like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, that would single-handedly transform its fortunes.

In England, cities that have attempted this include Newcastle, with the Sage; Sheffield, with the short-lived Museum of Popular Music; and Birmingham, with the Bullring.

In Bristol, not one single building built in the last ten years has the ‘wow’ factor, and the city fathers missed a trick when they plumped for a design for the new shopping centre which from the main entrance to the city from the M32 is just a big ugly wall.

The Colston Hall’s new foyer is big, gold and brash, but it doesn’t scream amazingness. The planetarium in Millennium Square is impressive, but not large enough to be shouted about. The new flats by the Floating Harbour look like Lego homes, the ‘Eye’ in the development behind Temple Meads is simply not tall enough to be iconic (it really should have been at least twice as big as it is, although I have heard that the reason for its stunted appearance is because a structure any taller would have poked above the entrance to Temple Meads).

In that same development behind Temple Meads is a new bridge that has come to be known as the cheese grater. It is a dull and functional structure and yet another missed opportunity.

Bridges such as the ‘Blinking Eye’ linking Newcastle to Gateshead and the Sage are now part of that city’s fabric – just take a look at the logo on the Brown Ale bottle.

Bristol has, of course, got the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and I have a soft spot for Valentine’s Bridge next to the Eye, just down the way from the cheese grater.

And the one new development in Bristol that’s really getting me excited – Finzel’s Reach on the site of the old Courage brewery opposite Castle Park – has a wonderful new bridge, the Mobius Bridge (below), which will be incorporated within it.

Innovative designs like the Mobius Bridge, named after the twisted mathematical form the bridge is designed around, could finally put Bristol back on the design map, 200 years after Brunel. It’s not quite the Guggenheim in Bilbao, but it’s a start.