The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs is not just a catalogue of the places that may or may not be opening their doors in autumn 2020 for the Open House festival. In this new guide, guest-edited by Owen Hatherley and designed by Studio Christopher Victor, 33 writers, architects, activists, and Londoners present 33 essays exploring famous and unheralded buildings, streets, estates and neighbourhoods, some open for the Open House Festival, some not, across the 33 London boroughs.
With contributions from columnist Aditya Chakrabortty to the historian Gillian Darley, via playwright Hanif Kureishi and the politician Emma Dent Coad, the Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs will present a picture of an extraordinary ordinary London made up of the places just outside the front door. Whether you have spent the lock down in a Georgian terrace, a thirties semi, an LCC tenement or a modernist high-rise, this book will be a refreshing journey into the city you have been missing and a celebration of the everyday buildings, places and landscapes which make it special.