The Lost Gardens of Covent Garden: An Experiment in Collective Walking
This walk uncovers the story of Covent Garden’s lost community gardens and the role they played in anti-gentrification activism in the 1970s and 80s. Participants are invited to co-create the walk through interactive narration and speculation, taking on roles of different characters involved – from local residents to architect-activists. We’ll trace histories of community organising, radical gardening and housing justice activism, together imagining the Covent Garden that was, that could have been, and that could be.
The route begins at the Covent Garden Market and ends in the area’s last remaining community garden, Phoenix Garden. It should last about an hour. It is accessible, but please note that the area can be quite crowded.
This walk is part of Antiuniversity Festival 2025.
About the organiser: Leela is a London-based writer and transdisciplinary artist whose work weaves political ecology, counter-cartography and speculative fiction. She holds a master’s in architecture from the Architectural Association, where she works as an editor.
