Walking in the City of London

Abstract

The closure of the ‘public’ Paternoster Square, or more accurately, the fortifying of the space with police, private security and metal barriers, was a moment when the real nature of this ‘public’ space was revealed—only a very specific type of public was welcome, and their activities are restricted to those of work and consumption. The sudden transformation of Paternoster from public to private reflects, in fast-forward mode, the process of the privatization of urban space that is happening in the City of London and beyond. This privatization of vast swathes of the City makes it out of bounds to ordinary people and protest, which greatly undermines the state of our democracy. Armed with picnic baskets, Twister, badminton racquets and our own ‘Street Bingo!’ a group set off to walk and play in the City in order to explore and challenge the increasingly blurred boundaries between public and private space, and with the aims of creating and reclaiming public space. The City of London is predominantly used as a space of financial accumulation for the elite, however, we reckoned, using the City in different ways would displace and disrupt this primary (dys)function. This paper draws from this action-walk around the City of London using it to discuss the changing nature of urban space that has been central to people's discussions and experiences at Occupy London. The paper also argues that the walk can be a powerful action in which people can begin to re-imagine and re-create urban space.