The Alternative Guide to the Boroughs of London

Guest-edited by Owen Hatherley, thirty-three writers; architects, activists, and Londoners present thirty-three essays exploring famous and unheralded buildings, streets, estates and neighbourhoods across the thirty-three London boroughs.

With contributions from columnist Aditya Chakrabortty to the historian Gillian Darley, via playwright Hanif Kureishi and the politician Emma Dent Coad, the Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs is a journey into the neighbourhoods, housing estates and public buildings of London’s rich urban landscape.

Encompassing everything from Brutalist Polish community centres to suburban
garden cities, from pioneering modernist estates to ornate Victorian greenhouses, as seen through everything from grime videos to the films of Patrick Keiller, this book will be a refreshing journey into the city you have been missing, and a celebration of the buildings, places and landscapes which make it special.

CONTENTS

Preface by Catherine Slessor
Introduction by Owen Hatherley

North
BARNET — Fatema Ahmed
CAMDEN — Esther Leslie
ENFIELD — Joshua Abbott
HARINGEY — Aditya Chakrabortty
HARROW — Daisy Froud
ISLINGTON — Jude Wanga

East
BARKING AND DAGENHAM — Verity-Jane Keefe
THE CITY OF LONDON — Helen Thomas
HACKNEY — Aydin Dikerdem
HAVERING — Tom Wilkinson
NEWHAM — Joy White
REDBRIDGE — Laura Grace Ford
TOWER HAMLETS — Thomas Aquilina
WALTHAM FOREST — Eli Davies

South-East
BEXLEY — josie sparrow

BROMLEY — Hanif Kureishi
CROYDON — Katrina Navickas
GREENWICH — Rosamund Lily West 
LEWISHAM — Nicholas Taylor
SOUTHWARK — Johny Pitts

South-West

KINGSTON ON THAMES — Joanne Murray

LAMBETH — Jason Okundaye

MERTON — John Boughton
RICHMOND ON THAMES — Douglas Murphy
SUTTON — Michael Badu
WANDSWORTH — Ruth Lang

West
BRENT — Ewan Harrison
EALING — Gavin Leonard
HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM — Michal Murawski
HILLINGDON — Charles Holland 
HOUNSLOW — Gillian Darley
KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA — Emma Dent Coad 
WESTMINSTER — Hazel Tsoi Wiles

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

In reimagining our guidebook this year we set out to create a book that is as interesting to handle as it is to read. A thoughtful approach to typography and printing conceived by Studio Christopher Victor will bring together the longer essays with highlights from Open City’s extended network of community groups. Richly illustrated with images and artefacts from some of the city’s vast and eclectic museum collections and archives that have remained closed to the public throughout the pandemic, the guide will be offset-printed in London using premium book papers and metallic spot colours.

240mm x 170mm x 20mm
274 pages
33 Essays + plus much more
Edited by Owen Hatherley
Designed by Studio Christopher Victor
Published by Open House

SPONSORS

The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs was made possible thanks to sponsorship from the Baylight Fondation and Mount Anvil.

Mount Anvil create outstanding places where people can thrive. It starts with the way we do business, with a relentless focus on people and culture, and shows up in the legacy we're proud to create for London. 

The Baylight Foundation is based at Walmer Yard, a discreet and private set of four interlocking houses set around a courtyard. This building, designed and crafted by Peter Salter together with Fenella Collingridge, and developed by Crispin Kelly, is the reflection of a long education and the product of a decade of learning, thought, and inspiration.