The Festival City

By Rosa Rogina (Director, London Festival of Architecture)

Image: Phoenix Road Performing Gardens by NOOMA Studio (LFA2022 in Camden)
Credit: Luke O'Donovan

Architecture plays a fundamental role in providing the backdrop to people’s daily lives. Yet, the world we live in today is very different from the world of ten or even just five years ago. In times of multiple global emergencies, including climate crisis, global pandemic, conflicts and high levels of inequality and systemic injustice, there is a new sense of urgency for architects and other spatial practitioners to adopt more responsive and inclusive forms of practice, ones built on principles of collaboration, equity, and sustainable design. While a rapidly changing world demands quick and flexible solutions, most buildings still unfortunately take years if not decades to plan, design and construct. In this context, can temporary urban interventions bring a critical lens to city-making and tackle some of the most pressing issues we face today?

While shifting trends around the ways people move through and engage with the city is not a new phenomenon, in the last couple of years we have witnessed an increasing demand for transforming congested and heavily polluted town centers into safer and more pleasant spaces for pedestrians and cyclists to use and travel through.

In my current role at the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), I am highly interested in ways of how temporary events such festivals can actively engage and experiment with the urban environment while also serving as a vehicle for a lasting impact on the city. Taking place every June across London, the LFA’s mission is to open up discussions around architecture, test new ideas and uncover and promote new talent, all with an aim to create a better, more inclusive London for all in the long term.

The aftereffects of Covid-19 have made us test unknown models of using the city in many ways relatable to urban conditions a festival can create. Back in 2008, Exhibition Road in South Kensington was temporarily closed to traffic for the very first time to host a series of public events as part of the London Festival of Architecture. Activated with pop-up installations, food stalls and performances, the road closure served as part of the public consultation on the long-term improvements to the public realm on one of London’s key routes. The event was followed by the implementation of Dixon Jones’ pioneering shared spaces scheme ahead the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, a pivotal moment of turning a piece of pop-up tactical urbanism into a permanent public good.

Building on the Festival’s rich legacy of urban experimentation and innovation, we have been collaborating with a variety of partners, including leading cultural organisations, local authorities, business improvement districts and private organisations, on a number of public realm activations and interventions across London, both temporary and permanent. These types of projects demonstrate the huge potential the Festival holds not only as a showcase of good practice but also as a driving vehicle for a meaningful change.

The 2022 festival’s theme of ‘act’ without a doubt produced one of our best ever programmes. From poetry, dancing and communal dining on a pedestrianised stretch of road in Somers Town, promenade performances exploring Corbett Estate in South East London to a day-long School of Activism in Hackney Wick and anything in between, the 2022 programme was experimental, daring and fresh. Across London, people listened, discussed, created, made, and moved as they engaged with the city. The LFA 2022 reflected not just London now, but a vision of what it could be – greener, healthier, more inclusive and equitable - a London by and for all Londoners.

Finding positives in a global crisis is a difficult task. Yet, one thing is certain: temporary occurrences, from protests and small-scale urban interventions to global pandemics, have lasting effects on our permanent environment and people who use it. Due to their temporary nature, festivals can often be distanced from the life of the cities in which they are held. Yet, it is precisely their temporal dimension that can offer opportunities for festival producers and participants to experiment, test ideas and negotiate change.