Liveability, sustainability, best for business, are all lists annually published that purport to inform us about our neighbourhoods, towns and cities.  However, we at Rethinking Cities & the Museum of Walking have been investigating how to measure civility in our urban and suburban surroundings, and a core element that comes out from our research so […]

The River Walbrook may have been the first London river to be buried beneath the City’s streets.  It only appears after heavy rain where it pours through a storm drain outlet into the Thames close to Canon Street.  It may have been hidden for more than 500 years but there are traces of the river […]

Walking beside the river, with views of the Palace of Westmisnter, the sun setting, and the sound of the traffic – that last bit cannot be right?  It is true, traffic noise and the smell of diesel are the two most intrusive things to ruin a romantic walk – that’s what participants on the Loved […]

Despite the dreadful weather, more than 20 people joined Martin Fidler, creator of the Ruskin Walk, to step out in John Ruskin’s shoes to discover Camberwell, where he lived for more than 40 years.  Each participant was given a hand assembled visual journal, in which prompts had been inserted, all of which were derived from […]

Tom Bolton, author of soon to be published “The Lost Rivers of London: A Walker’s Guide” entertained more than a dozen participants in Rethinking Cities’ latest Wednesday After Work Walk along the route of the Tyburn river describing its history and how it has influenced the street pattern and development of London’s West End. Rising […]

Our series of Wednesday After Work Walks began with an investigation into the truth and mythology of native tree species to be found in and around London SE1. Armed with carefully adapted field notebooks, investigators set off from Emma Cons Gardens close to Waterloo on a 2 hour walk, led and facilitated by Andrew Stuck […]

On Wednesday 6 April, Rethinking Cities and PLAYLINK hosted an event in two parts: a Walkshop from 3.00pm Meeting at Denmark Hill Station followed by a Talk the Walk from 5.00pm – 7.30pm at the Clore Studio at the South London Gallery London SE5 8UH. The theme was “making neighbourhoods more neighbourly”: Informal social neighbourliness, […]

Greenwich Park tops the list of most romantic places in this great city, according to our Romantic Ribbons website – with its commanding views over the Thames and the historic buildings that line this maritime enclave. Wandering hand in hand kicking leaves! Like kids again! It’s a beautiful haven of greenery and laughter…football, families and […]

Combining techniques devised while working with communities in the UK, for both young and old, Andrew Stuck from Rethinking Cities, conducted a series of workshops with officers from local authorities in and around Coburg, in Melbourne, Australia.         Some 30 local authority community engagement officers joined Andrew to explore the applicability of […]

Just what do we mean by playfulness, certainly more than just children’s play in formal playgrounds.  Playfulness is something for everyone of all ages, but how can you spread a little playfulness across a whole borough? Tower Hamlets leads London as a healthy borough, with a green grid strategy that focusses developers on creating new […]