Connecting Hoxton: A community-led public realm strategy for East-West reconnection

From January to May 2024, Root And Erect led a co-design process to establish a shared vision for the future of Hoxton’s public realm. Working closely with the London Borough of Hackney, local residents, businesses and cultural organisations, the project identified six guiding principles that underpinned a successful funding bid to the Mayor of London’s Civic Partnership Programme. The result is £3 million in Civic Partnership funding, supplemented by borough investment, to transform Hoxton’s public spaces, green areas and cultural frontages. The strategy was shaped through focus groups and workshops hosted at Hoxton Hall and Ivy Street Family Centre, where participants collectively imagined how they’d like Hoxton to be described in the future. The outcomes directly informed a framework for near-term improvements and long-term change, aiming to foster wellbeing, improve connectivity and reduce social isolation. One of the key ambitions is to enhance East-West movement across the neighbourhood, particularly between Hoxton Street and key community hubs such as Shoreditch Library, Hoxton Hall, and The Hoxton Trust.

The Hoxton Mini-Fair in April 2024 offered an important moment to test ideas with the wider public and celebrate local identity. Organised as part of the regular Saturday market, the event featured a showcase of co-designed project proposals, public voting, and a tote bag screen-printing workshop led by students from New City College. Designed by Root And Erect’s team, the bags captured the playful visual identity of the project while reinforcing community ownership. Over the coming months, a series of ‘pilot projects’ will be delivered to trial small-scale improvements to public spaces around Hoxton Street Market and within local estates. These early interventions will inform the development of larger capital works and include new green infrastructure, increased biodiversity, and enhanced public realm adjacent to key cultural landmarks. The process remains deeply collaborative, with a new programme of community design sessions planned for autumn 2025. ‘Connecting Hoxton’ represents a long-term investment in place, process and people - bringing together physical improvements with a strengthened sense of belonging, identity and civic life.