Civic Rituals

Civic Rituals is a new initiative from the Architecture Foundation Young Trustees which focuses on celebrating local pride, overlooked histories and forgotten memories in London neighbourhoods. In my role as AFYT Co-chair, I worked alongside my fellow trustees to launch the programme with a walking tour of Brixton as part of Open House 2021.

The tour celebrated civic-led stories about an area that is experiencing immense change. Along the route of this tour, spatial practitioners, activists, historians and curators shared what Brixton means to them at a more intimate level at this critical juncture in the area’s history, discussing key themes such as regeneration, spatial archiving, urban green space, Caribbean performative histories, and making community through food.

We brought together a wide range of contributors, including Danai Nardi from the Save Nour Campaign, Dr Ayshah Johnston from the Black Cultural Archives, Anna Godefroy from Urban Growth, and Alan Piper from the Brixton Society, to create a rich tapestry of the past, present and future stories of this piece of London.