Town of Tomorrow: Thamesmead Through Film Walking tour

Join Open City for a walking tour revealing the unique architectural vision of Thamesmead through film

This fun and engaging walking tour — led by Golden Key Academy graduate and Allies and Morrison architect Áine Grace — uses archive film to demonstrate the futuristic ideas and shifting identities at the heart of Thamesmead, an architecturally bold New Town built on former marshland by the Greater London Council between 1964 and 1986.

Envisioned as a new town on the south eastern edges of London, Thamesmead offered a leap forward into what was seen as futuristic 21st century-style living to both residents and visitors alike. Among its most famous visitors was director Stanley Kubrick, who filmed iconic scenes from his cult classic film A Clockwork Orange on the newly built estate in 1970.

Since Kubrick, Thamesmead has continued to attract filmmakers, providing a compelling backdrop for urban storytelling.

With the estate now undergoing large scale regeneration including building 20,000 new homes, community and cultural facilities in a vision to realise Thamesmead’s potential as London’s new town, this walking tour revisits its original design intentions and by focusing on film offers a unique re-reading of its landscape to reveal its multiple identities and its enduring humanity.

Providing a safe and fun way for enthusiastic urbanists to explore the city, this tour will explore the past, present and future of Thamesmead as one of London’s most culturally diverse and iconic neighbourhoods with an Elizabeth Line station connecting it to the centre.

The entertaining and insightful route will visit the ancient ruins of Lesnes Abbey before heading north into the 1960s and 1970s Parkview and Southmere neighbourhoods where new landscaping has transformed public spaces and set the stage for a civic centre featuring a new library by the acclaimed architects Bisset Adams.