The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs

The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs is not just a catalogue of the places that may or may not be opening their doors in autumn 2020 for the Open House festival, this book is an exploration of the ordinary neighbourhoods, housing estates and public buildings that lie round the corner, rather than on a tube or a bus into town.

In this new guide, guest-edited by Owen Hatherley and designed by Studio Christopher Victor, thirty-three writers; architects, activists, and Londoners present thirty-three essays exploring famous and unheralded buildings, streets, estates and neighbourhoods — some open for the Open House Festival, some not — across the thirty-three London boroughs.

With contributions from columnist Aditya Chakrabortty to the historian Gillian Darley, via playwright Hanif Kureishi and the politician Emma Dent Coad, the Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs will present a picture of an extraordinary ordinary London made up of the places just outside the front door. Whether you have spent the lock down in a Georgian terrace, a thirties semi, an LCC tenement or a modernist high-rise, this book will be a refreshing journey into the city you have been missing and a celebration of the everyday buildings, places and landscapes which make it special.