Being neighbourly in the City of London

The Barbican and Golden Lane Estate district is home to many of the City of London’s 9,000 residents. The area has recently set up a Neighbourhood Forum, the only body of its kind in the City of London. The Forum is creating a neighbourhood plan which gives the local community a statutory role in the planning process including the right to comment on planning applications and the development of the area.

The forum will strengthen local influence by:

• creating a neighbourhood plan in conformity with the City of London Local Plan;
• commenting on planning applications; and
• influencing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) spending.

The Neighbourhood Area was designated on 18th July 2023 by a unanimous vote of the City of London’s Planning and Transport Committee. The plan follows the boundary of the City of London wards of Aldersgate and Cripplegate and includes neighbouring residential blocks. It also extends to cover the area to the north to track the City’s boundary.

The Jane’s Walk Festival celebrates planning, urban design and the creation of thriving neighbourhoods. It is therefore appropriate that this work in the heart of the capital’s financial district should be part of the Festival.

Much of the area was developed in the post-war period in a City devastated by the Blitz. Developments like Golden Lane, the Barbican Estate and the creation of London Wall offices were being created at the same time that Jane Jacobs was engaged in campaigning against proposals by Robert Moses for the development of New York and the Bronx.

This Jane’s Walk will take visitors around the edge of Barbican and Golden Lane Neighbourhood area and provide a chance to discuss:

• why a plan is a good idea;
• how it could work;
• why this part of London could benefit; and
• it will look at how this approach could make us all better neighbours.

And as we celebrate the life and work of Jane Jacobs, we will ask – who is the Jane Jacobs for the 21st century and who is our own Robert Moses?

This walk is part of Jane’s Walk London Festival 2024, a festival of free, citizen-led walking conversations taking place in London and around the world every year in May. JWL Festival will take place May 10-12, check the full lineup on Jane’s Walk London website.

Jane's Walk London is part of the Jane's Walk network, a global movement and a community-based approach to city building that uses volunteer-led walking conversations to make space for people to observe, reflect, share, question and re-imagine the places in which they live, work and play. Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was a writer, urbanist and activist who championed the voices of everyday people in neighbourhood planning and city-building.

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