These tours are led by participants of Open City’s Golden Key Academy 2024 – a course training up insightful and engaging guides dedicated to explaining London and bringing its many stories to life.
Further information on the Golden Key Academy can be found here https://open-city.org.uk/golden-key-academy
Discover the stories of 19th century people working, living and dying across Southwark and Lambeth and the remarkable individuals who strove to make life better. Remnants of 19th century architecture are to be found at every turn; the site of Charles Dickens' childhood trauma, a Victorian railway for the dead, a magnificent theatre still vibrant today and a street where time has stood still.
What is a city for? This question is more urgent than ever: a warming planet, a housing crisis and ever changing working-living patterns are forcing us to reconsider what a city is or should be. How can these ideas coexist? How can they come into conflict? This tour explores the forces that have shaped London in the 20th and 21st centuries, and whether they can get us where we need to go next.
On the surface Thamesmead might seem concrete and grey, but on this tour we will take a look at the colour and life local artists that are breathing into the area. Examining the past and present, we'll explore the abbey ruins, exciting sculptures, concrete skywalks, and vivid murals that make this place the Town of Tomorrow.
Join this walking tour to discover how post-war architects and planners re-imagined the future of housing, including the low-rise Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate designed by Neave Brown and the high-rise monolith Trellick Tower by Erno Goldfinger. This walk is not about housing pre-fixed by ‘public’, ‘social’, ‘council’ or ‘local’ – but the concept of housing itself.
London is the ultimate urban sprawl. But hiding among the buildings and cars there are an estimated eight million trees. So who else do we share our city with? Do you have a neighbourhood goose? Are there really seals in the River Thames? Join Lucy Brown from wildlife conservation charity ZSL on a journey through London's wild alter-ego, via the parks and waterways of Camden and Westminster.
A walking tour in the City of London revealing its unique status among other boroughs of London. It gives an opportunity to learn about the City – a tiny area, covering just over one square mile packed with history, exclusive rights and peculiar customs. It’s not just a walking tour, it’s also an adventure packed with activities, which unveil a piece of the City you never knew about.
Explore twenty first century architecture in one of London's most luxurious and historic neighbourhoods. This walking tour covers Mayfair's new contemporary developments, discovering architectural treasures, hidden gems and buildings that are designed for our changing climate.
A walk through the City of London from the Thames (at the pool of London) up to Lloyds of London, site of the former HQ of the East India Company, looking at buildings and architecture built during the time of British Empire.
Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, 1677
Join this walking tour to explore London's energy history and its impact on sustainability. Visit the King's Cross canals to see old and new infrastructure. Topics include London's carbon footprint, quantifying health benefits from green infrastructure, and the role of the built environment in meeting net zero targets. Discover how London’s past has shaped its sustainable future.
The early 1800's saw the green fields of northern Clerkenwell spring up into grand squares and terraced houses. This walking tour will look at how the speculative housing developed, what remains today, and the unique stories and characters of the area.
This walk invites all canal enthusiasts – also known as ‘gongoozlers’ – on a walk through the social and industrial history of the Limehouse Basin and along Regent’s Canal. Discover how a purpose-built canal shaped the lives of East Enders, Londoners and the United Kingdom.
John Nash, 1820
During the inter-war period Hampstead became a focal point for radical Modernist architects and intellectuals. Modernists rejected the orthodoxy of earlier architectural movements and utilised new technologies like reinforced concrete, glass and steel. Join this urban stroll from Hampstead to Belsize Park as we explore some of the most significant examples of Modernism in London.
Ernő Goldfinger, 1939
Explore some of the oldest – and newest – parts of London's underground rail infrastructure as you learn about the world’s first passenger underground railway and hear about its impact on the built environment. From saving London from traffic chaos in the 1850s to fuelling its expansion ever since, it's a fascinating tale of human ingenuity – and property speculation!
Have you ever wondered as you wandered what exactly led to a bench looking like that, why London's telephone boxes are red, what those green huts are, and why there are no public toilets anymore...? If the answer is 'YES!' then join us as we saunter around Temple and the Strand with these questions in mind, stopping to peek at parts of the city fabric that we often overlook – and learning about the designers and 'deciders' behind the scenes.
This walking tour will follow the course one of the earliest public infrastructure projects in London, the 400 year old New River aqueduct. Explore a history of innovative public housing developments in one of the most densely populated parts on London and end at New River Head, a striking example of public utility architecture now being repurposed for arts and culture.
On this journey into Soho and St Giles, I want to show the different ways London’s streets are alive with love in all its varied forms. Buildings are often said to be sympathetic or out of place, in keeping or a departure from their surroundings. This tour will explore how the built environment reflects the relationships we conduct with each other.
Alfred Gilbert, 1892
London's skyline is rapidly growing! But 'skyscrapers' have been with us for millennia. Join Ben Eley on a walking tour of London's most iconic skyscraper cluster – the ancient commercial heart of the City of London. This tour considers the many social and economic influences which have pushed buildings higher, reflects on campaigns which seek to curtail tall building aspirations, and focusses in on some of London's most famous skyscrapers.
Deptford's history is mainly linked to the river, but it also has a rich musical and cultural heritage. This walking tour will explore the sounds of Deptford and New Cross, along the way telling the radical – and often tragic – history of this diverse area, from police clashes at the Moonshot Club to groundbreaking community arts projects at the Albany.
Although Highgate is labelled a sleepy 'village for millionaires' frozen in time, during our two-hour walk with an integrated cardio effect, participants will see how this area has evolved under the influence of generations of nonconformists. Our route includes one of the most architecturally diverse street in London, experimental pink plaques and eccentric homes.
The north of Westminster is rich in stories of how the local community has influenced the built environment in significant and lasting ways. This tour explores how the cityscape we see today has been shaped by different ideological approaches, local campaigns and the push and pull of battles for housing and amenities. It considers the question of who decides what gets built and who is it for?
In centuries past thousands of people thronged to Oxford Street to watch executions – now London's most famous destination draws millions of visitors who spend millions of pounds in Europe's busiest shopping thoroughfare. This walk uses the built environment to chart the history of retail and witness its future already in action.
This walking tour will draw comparisons between the progress and demise of the postwar welfare state. Focusing on housing and healthcare, the tour will present prominent examples from the era and discuss ways these are being adapted to meet contemporary challenges, such as the housing crisis and ongoing maintenance. The ambition of the tour is to reassess the value of postwar architecture today.
Much of England’s social history can be seen within London. One area has attracted generations of alternative thinkers and liberal idealists this being Smithfield and Clerkenwell. From medieval markets and place of execution, along the old droving roads with links to the crusades, to the green which influenced both Dickens and Lenin, we weave a route through an area unique in our nations history.
A walking tour exploring how the dockside of ‘the busiest port in the world’ has been repurposed but not destroyed to make a peaceful riverside enclave. Along the way we will discover some amazing spaces serving London in ways far beyond the imaginations of past Londoners and we will see evidence of current trends to reduce the carbon cost of redevelopment as London continues to change.
The walking tour will explore the showcase landscape and built environment of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and its surroundings. The tour will showcase unique waterscapes in the area and talk about the importance of rainwater, water and sustainable urban design; its relation to public space and how water integration can shape and design spaces.
Camden is forging a new path forward in the 21st century, reinventing itself once again with a planned new highline, an observation wheel, the 9-acre Camden Goods Yard redevelopment, a revamped KOKO theatre and an expanding network of markets. So what kind of place is Camden becoming in its latest era?
Not the end of the line? London’s King’s Cross and St Pancras are perfectly located stations at the crossroads of north, south, east and west. The stations and the neighbourhoods they inhabit, have a rich and diverse history. This walk will look at the decline and the regeneration of this well-known area.
Explore how Elephant and Castle went from being the 'farm of Britain' in the Middle Ages to 'the Piccadilly of the South' in the 18th Century to, as the outspoken food critic Giles Coren unfairly put it, 'a stabby s****hole of staggering grimness' in the 20th Century. Finally, witness its recent multi-billion pound reinvention as a thriving urban metropolis at the heart of London life.