Paul Lincoln leads regular guided walks in the City of London. These include Walls of London; the Eastern Cluster; Jane’s Walk; and Imagine Golden Lane at Net Zero. Details of walks this Spring and Summer are listed below.
Jane’s Walk London: Being neighbourly in the City of London
Making a Neighbourhood Plan in Barbican and Golden Lane
- 10th May at 4-30pm. Book
- 12 May at 12-00. Book
The Barbican and Golden Lane Estate district is home to many of the City of London’s 9,000 residents. The area has recently set up a Neighbourhood Forum, the only body of its kind in the City of London. The Forum is creating a neighbourhood plan which gives the local community a statutory role in the planning process including the right to comment on planning applications and the development of the area.
The forum will strengthen local influence by:
- creating a neighbourhood plan in conformity with the City of London Local Plan;
- commenting on planning applications; and
- influencing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) spending.
The Neighbourhood Area was designated on 18th July 2023 by a unanimous vote of the City of London’s Planning and Transport Committee. The plan follows the boundary of the City of London wards of Aldersgate and Cripplegate and includes neighbouring residential blocks. It also extends to cover the area to the north to track the City’s boundary.
The Jane’s Walk Festival celebrates planning, urban design and the creation of thriving neighbourhoods. It is therefore appropriate that this work in the heart of the capital’s financial district should be part of the Festival.
Much of the area was developed in the post-war period in a City devastated by the Blitz. Developments like Golden Lane, the Barbican Estate and the creation of London Wall offices were being created at the same time that Jane Jacobs was engaged in campaigning against proposals by Robert Moses for the development of New York and the Bronx.
This Jane’s Walk will take visitors around the edge of Barbican and Golden Lane Neighbourhood area and provide a chance to discuss:
- why a plan is a good idea;
- how it could work;
- why this part of London could benefit; and
- it will look at how this approach could make us all better neighbours.
And as we celebrate the life and work of Jane Jacobs, we will ask – who is the Jane Jacobs for the 21st century and who is our own Robert Moses?
This walk is part of Jane’s Walk London Festival 2024, a festival of free, citizen-led walking conversations taking place in London and around the world every year in May. JWL Festival will take place May 10-12, check the full lineup on Jane’s Walk London website.
Jane’s Walk London is part of the Jane’s Walk network, a global movement and a community-based approach to city building that uses volunteer-led walking conversations to make space for people to observe, reflect, share, question and re-imagine the places in which they live, work and play. Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was a writer, urbanist and activist who championed the voices of everyday people in neighbourhood planning and city-building.
#JWLfestival2024, #JWL2024, #janeswalklondon
Walls of London
Saturday mornings at 10-00am
This walking tour along the route of the ruined London Wall chronicles how the protective stone barrier, which was originally built by the Romans, has been adapted, demolished, covered up, revealed by the blitz, and even rediscovered by recent building works.
The impact of London’s wall on the historic City of London and the wider capital is immense and yet it is rarely celebrated, noticed or understood. The recent building of the London Wall Place office development by Make — featuring a series of new skywalks — has however shone a light on some new aspects of these ancient fortifications. The walk starts at the recently opened London Wall Museum in Vine Street which is part of King’s College student halls of residence.
Participants will discover the extraordinary history of the wall, its constantly changing appearance, its impact on surrounding neighbourhoods, its relationship with nearby buildings old and new, and the role it played as a symbol of division in medieval society — deterring physical threats, but also separating members of society into ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders.’
London Wall has survived the plague, the Blitz and is likely to survive the social and economic upheavals brought by Covid-19. The tour will use the history, and surviving structure of London’s ancient wall, to open up discussions about how public spaces are used by local residents, visitors and workers and the ways in which the Square Mile could respond to the impact of Covid-19.
Meeting place:
The City Wall at Vine Street, 12 Jewry Street, London, EC3N 2HT
Cafe is open from 9-00am
Walk starts at 10-00am
Explore the Eastern Cluster:
A guided walk around the City of London’s Eastern District
Friday evenings at 5-30pm
7 June Book
Over the past forty years the eastern part of the City of London has become home to some of the most distinctive architecture in the capital. Although many of these buildings from Tower 42 to 30 St Mary Axe and the Leadenhall Building, are an important part of the London skyline, less attention has been paid to the way in which this area can be enjoyed at street level. A district known mainly for financial services is now developing new public spaces, public art and landscape projects. This part of the City is also a place of considerable historic significance, from the Roman London Wall to Bevis Marks Synagogue, the only synagogue in Europe that has held regular services continuously for over 300 years; to St Peter’s Cornhill which stands on the highest point of the City of London, this is a completely fascinating part of London.
This walk will look at the Roman invasion and the building of the London Wall; the development of the City of London as a financial district, the impact of the City of London’s policies and voting system on the planning of the area; the approach to tackling climate emergency and planned improvements to the area.
Meeting place for the Friday evening walk is:
Outside the Aldgate Tap, Aldgate Square, EC3N 1AF
Walk starts at 5-30pm
Reimagine Golden Lane at Net Zero
Part of the London Festival of Architecture 2024
1 June 2024 Book
2 June 2024 Book
How do you tackle conservation, climate emergency and biodiversity loss in a post-war listed estate in the City of London?
Golden Lane Estate was designed by architects Chamberlin, Bon and Powell who later went on to design the Barbican Estate and Leeds University. Golden Lane Estae is listed Grade II and II* and is therefore immune from demolition. However tackling net zero and biodiversity loss is a major challenge for buildings of this age.
Over the past three years, there has been considerable interest in working out how to improve the resilience of Golden Lane. A campaign Imagine Golden Lane at Net Zero started during lockdown. This resident-led project has a vision for Golden Lane which addresses cycling, walking, energy conservation, repairs, waste, recycling, biodiversity and greening.
This guided walk will look at the way in which the estate is functioning, consider how it might be improved and debate some of the contradictions that follow from an attempt to conserve heritage and tackle climate emergency.
WALKING CITY 