In 2026 the Museum of London is moving to a new
location in West Smithfield. One of Europe’s largest cultural capital projects,
the £332m move and related ‘Culture Mile’ place brand will radically transform Smithfield
and its environs.
This interdisciplinary PhD research project
explores the impact that culture-led development has on an area’s sense of
place in the context of sustainable urban development, socially-engaged and inclusive museum
practices, and the emerging discourse around the importance of local places and
networks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to offer new insights
into the dynamic relationship between incoming cultural institutions and their
local area.
The research asks: how can we define and measure a
sense of place? How is a sense of place instrumentalised in processes of urban
change? And how can a sense of place inform the practices and programmes of new
or incoming cultural institutions?
My approach draws on mixed methods and
participatory approaches to include the layered and temporal nature of place
and the diverse perspectives of Smithfield’s social actors and communities of
interest.
This doctoral research project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and is a Collaborative Doctoral Award between Brunel Universtiy London and The Museum of London.
