Cities Methodologies 2014: Walking Roundtable - Learning to Walk

This roundtable discussion, themed ‘Learning to Walk,’ brought together a range of thinkers, researchers, practitioners and artists who have engaged walking as a method and a way of experiencing and understanding the city. Each speaker presented their own approach to walking in 5-10mins and a discussion across the diversity of walking practices, and different approaches to thinking about walking, ensued.

The roundtable was moderated by ThienVinh Nguyen (PhD student, UCL Geography), and features Tom Bolton (Author, London’s Lost Rivers: A Walker's Guide, 2011); Jonathan Hill (Professor of Architecture and Visual Theory, Bartlett School of Architecture); Amy Thomas (PhD student, Bartlett School of Architecture); Rab Harling (UCL Urban Laboratory Leverhulme Artist-in-residence); David Kendall (Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths, University of London); Graham Gussin (situationist); Andy Wicks (artist); Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (architect and academic); Sabeth Tödtli (Co-founder, zURBS and Nextzürich); Nina Lund Westerdahl (zURBS); Cecilie Sachs Olsen (Co-founder, zURBS and PhD researcher at Queen Mary University of London, School of Geography); and Jennie Savage (artist).

Roundtable participants discussed:

• What brought them to explore and utilise walking as a practice in their work;
• If and how they theorise their walking practice, and/or historical precedents for their approach?
• Walking as a pedagogic strategy;
• Whether we are experiencing a re-emergence of walking as a methodology? If so, why?
• How walking might contribute to better, or better understood, cities;
• What makes urban walking distinct?

This event was a part of UCL Urban Laboratory's Cities Methodologies 2014, an ongoing programme of events and exhibitions dedicated to presenting, sharing and experimenting with new methods of urban research. The other events lined up for the week can be seen here.