In Lockdown London, the public park became a sanctuary for many city dwellers keen to escape the confines of small apartments and shared homes. This project explores how the park typology could be reimagined for the post-pandemic city, with a focus on the creation of informal communal landscapes that can be managed by the local community, gradually transforming over time to suit changing lifestyles of both the human and non-human inhabitants.

The site is a partially abandoned industrial estate of over 40 acres, centrally located in the heart of Kentish Town. The project aims to provide new pedestrian permeability and connections to Hampstead Heath, effectively creating a new 3km green corridor through North London. More broadly, the project is envisaged as a testbed for the London National Park City, proposing new habitats and reinforcing the green urban infrastructure for London’s wildlife.

The design is conceived through a multi-disciplinary approach and as a participatory process involving local stakeholders and residents, paying tribute to Kentish Town’s vibrant history of protest and community activism. The intent is to provide a flexible framework where, over time, humans and non-humans would contribute to create a new, wilder landscape in the centre of the city.