London Rivers Week 2024: Place-making and the Rivers of Lewisham – Podcasts and Report Launch

Saturday 29th June, 1pm-7pm

Various venues across Lewisham (please see event information and tickets for more details)

Free but please book here.

Join urban sociologists Dr Emma Jackson and Dr Louise Rondel to celebrate the launch of the Place-making and the Rivers of Lewisham podcasts and project report, hosted by the Centre for Urban and Community Research (Goldsmiths).

As part of this event, you are invited to join us to walk along two stretches of Lewisham’s rivers, from Lower Sydenham to Catford Bridge and from Confluence Park (Lewisham Gateway) to Deptford Creekside and listen to podcasts with stories and soundscapes from the rivers. You are also invited to join us at Creekside Discovery Centre for the launch of the project report followed by a drinks reception.

Event schedule

The launch event will take place in 3 parts. Please book here for each of the sections of the event you wish to attend.

• For the podcast walks, please bring a smart phone and headphones.
  • 10am -11.30am Podcast walk. Meet at Lower Sydenham Station to walk to Catford Bridge

  Meeting point: Westerley Crescent exit. what3words: https://w3w.co/analogy.punt.softly

  This walk will take place along the Waterlink Way, largely on off-road paths. It will involve crossing roads.  For more details see: https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/waterlink-way

  • 12pm – 1.30pm Podcast walk. Meet at Confluence Park (Lewisham Gateway) to walk to Creekside Discovery Centre

  Meeting point: Confluence Park. what3words: https://w3w.co/deck.sculpture.accent

  This walk will follow the Waterlink Way and will be on a mix of off-road paths and pavements. It will involve crossing roads.  For more details see: https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/waterlink-way

  • 1.30pm – 3.30pm Report launch at Creekside Discovery Centre

  14 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8 4SA. what3words: https://w3w.co/goat.claims.seats

  For more details on the venue, see: https://www.creeksidecentre.org.uk/contact/visit

  Children are welcome and there will be a crafting table at Creekside Discovery Centre.

About the project

While the Thames looms large in questions of the past, present and future of London, a network of 25 smaller tributary rivers criss-cross the city, shaping the landscape and impacting in dramatic and mundane ways on people’s lives. These include the rivers of Lewisham: the Ravensbourne, the Quaggy and the Pool.

Over the course of a year, the research project Place-making and the Rivers of Lewisham has conducted a close-up exploration of two stretches of Lewisham’s rivers, through the use of creative qualitative methods, walking interviews, soundscape recordings, ethnography and a review of policy documents that are relevant to blue and green spaces across the borough.

The two stretches of river we are following in the project take us through a fast-changing part of Lewisham. They thread together landscapes of newly privatised high-rise development where the rivers have only recently been opened up as part of the Lewisham Gateway regeneration, the well-established Waterlink Way Linear Park, stretches dominated by transport infrastructure and the unique ecology and heritage of Deptford Creek.

Caring for Lewisham’s stretches of river are groups such as the Friends of the River Pool, Quaggy Waterways Action Group [QWAG], the Friends of Brookmill Park, Creekside Discovery Centre, Thames21, Healthy Rivers Project and Lewisham’s Nature’s Gym. These groups meet regularly to pull on their waders, don litter pickers and bin bags, and walk the river and its banks collecting litter, weeding out invasive plants, clearing debris which impedes the water’s flow, monitoring water quality, and carrying other such essential maintenance tasks; and, of course, sharing flasks of tea and donuts.

More information

https://placemakingandtheriversoflewisham.wordpress.com/

If you have any questions or accessibility requirements, please contact the organisers: Emma Jackson and Louise Rondel e.jackson@gold.ac.uk and l.rondel@gold.ac.uk

With thanks to the Goldsmiths Strategic Research Fund for funding the project.