Located in the north west of the City of London, the Barbican and Golden Lane area is an internationally renowned residential estate where world-class cultural institutions sit alongside the world’s largest financial centre.

The Barbican and Golden Lane Public Realm Strategy seeks to retain and enhance the area’s distinctive character. It establishes a series of recommendations and projects to improve streets, spaces and public realm, ensuring their quality reflects the area’s world-class architecture, heritage and institutions. The strategy proposes balancing wider change and development across the district with aspirations for environmental improvement outlined in the City of London policy.

The Cultural Hub vision articulates collective ambitions for the area’s future as a global cultural destination. It represents an important and innovative step in advancing the concept of the Cultural Hub, providing a framework through which the City of London, its cultural partners and stakeholders can strengthen partnerships and guide future development.

As part of the evidence base, Publica conducted a detailed spatial and contextual analysis of the neighbourhood, supported by an extensive engagement programme involving over 4000 participants.

The team mapped existing neighbourhood amenities and every cultural organisation, venue, public art, event and festival in the area, creating a comprehensive overview of local cultural activity. The findings from these analytical spatial studies informed both the area strategy and vision.

Following consultation on the draft strategy, the Barbican and Golden Lane Area Strategy was adopted as City of London policy December 2015.