The 2018 Culture Mile Look and Feel Strategy was designed to provide a vision for the public realm in the north west of the City of London, and projects to realise that. The key recommendations include the essential improvement of Beech Street, new public space around the new Museum of London at West Smithfield, making Moor Lane an urban oasis where visitors can pause and relax, and a proposed Centre for Music.
It contained recommendations on wayfinding, and public information systems, with interactive displays at key points.
A proposed Business Improvement District mentions the Look and Feel strategy in its proposals(download here)“Inspiring Places: Develop a Public Realm Vision for the area that maps public and private spaces and opportunities for activation and enhancement, building on the City of London Corporation’s Culture Mile Look & Feel Strategy of 2018”.(The BID is now in place - website here)
Beech Street was transformed with a groundbreaking sound and light installation last year
Beech Street was transformed with a groundbreaking sound and light installation last year
The plans include the essential improvement of Beech Street, which is a crucial axis for Culture Mile and a priority for the City Corporation, new public space around the new Museum of London at West Smithfield, and the proposed Centre for Music.
During the next two-three years, there will be a number of changes that you will start to see taking place to improve the area, including better wayfinding, increased greening, temporary art installations, and new street furniture.
New creative lighting projects, more digital information, accessibility and safety improvements, and improved infrastructure will complement better signage and public information systems.
For Culture Mile to realise this ambitious plan there are four key aims.
We want to create a‘Cultural Spine’ running from the site of the new museum in West Smithfield though Long Lane, Beech Street and on to Moorgate through Silk Street.
london magazine
Culture Mile is beginning to leave its mark
The Cultural Spine will prioritise pedestrian movement, offering better connections at ground level, direct routes, improved air quality creating a healthier environment, and providing visitors with the confidence to wander and explore.
We will bring the area’s world-class cultural activities into the streets to activate them, taking the‘inside out’. We will create a destination known for both generating and consuming culture, by using vacant or under-utilised spaces and providing cultural infrastructure to animate the streets and the area’s hidden activities, developing new places for local community activity.
Look and Feel Strategy launch