We are excited about working with our co-creators – each of them is imaginative, focussed and passionate as well as a walking enthusiast – and it means as well as devising innovative and engaging walkshops (a walking workshop) we also get out about on foot to discover what they do in their practice.

In 2021/2, we are working with:

Babak Fakhamzadeh was working in ICT4D before it had a name (2001), and can throw together a mean combination of programming languages, both frontend and backend. He brought photomarathons to Africa (2007) and has won a multiple international awards for his Situationist-inspired work. These included the Highway Africa new media award in 2007, the World Summit Award in 2012 and 2017 and the Prêmio Jornalístico Vladimir Herzog de Anistia e Direitos Humanos in 2016. He has created a number of mobile apps including Dérive app that gets you lost in your city and lets you share that experience with others; Kompl that shows you what’s around you. It’s up to you to find it.; Sauntering verse and The Museum of Yesterday where you can be an investigator of the secret past of the port of Rio de Janeiro. Inspired by our mission to get walking blogs more widely read, Babak created Iamthewalker.com

Gail Astbury is an artist and teacher. She studied Fine Art at Wimbledon School of Art and has an MA in Contemporary Arts Practices from Goldsmiths University London. She has held numerous posts as artist in Residence and exhibits internationally. As well as her painting practice, she makes site specific and collaborative work to commission for both private and corporate clients. Her work explores the contextual relationships that we have with each other and our surroundings. Gail leads our Art Explorations.

Mel Sutton – Yoga teacher and Chopra meditation instructor, Mel has been teaching and working in Natural Health for over 25 years. She is a qualified homeopath, aromatherapist and nutritionist bringing all this experience to her events. Her passion and enthusiasm is infectious. Mel loves nothing better than taking groups outside into nature to experience the health benefits of just being. Read more here or on Instagram: @naturalhealthwithmel

NG Bristow is an award-winning filmmaker and installation artist whose practice encompasses classical narrative, expanded cinema, and para-cinema. Past work in these categories includes: CONTROL , winner of the Louis Mitchell award for best feature / short at Action on Film festival 2016. UNSOUND, showcase premiere at SXSW.  Using the prototype Sensum Emotional Response Cinema technology, the film recomposes its narrative in real time based on bio-feedback from the audience.  He has been commissioned by:  FilmFour, C4, BBC, UKFC, BFI, NIFC, NI Screen and the Arts Council.

Paul Wood author of ‘London’s Street Trees’, a beautiful and practical field guide to the city’s urban forest. Chosen by the Guardian as one 2017’s best Nature books, Stephen Moss wrote “London Street Trees by Paul Wood (Safe Haven), .. adds a fascinating new dimension to any walk through the city.*” Paul is interested in looking at London through its street trees; how they relate to the built environment, their cultural and social history, and of course the remarkable variety of native and exotic species to be encountered as we Explore the Urban Forest.

Tim Ingram-Smith says he is interested in the same things as everyone else – green spaces in our cities, the shape of the land, fresh air and water, and how we make our lives more interesting and worthwhile through work, community and creativity.  He is currently spiraling around London on 300+ mile walk, has created an Eduardo Paolozzi walk for the London Festival of Architecture, and is toying with a walk to include New Zealand plants….

Meet co-creators we have worked with in the past few years:

Alan Tucker is a retired filmmaker and photographer who has lived and worked in London for 40 years. He’s spent the last few years deeply researching the local history close to his home in Bow. Alan has been reviewing audio and geo-located walks.

Andreas Alexiou, a leading researcher on Innovation diffusion, he is co-creating a series of walkshops for the business community, including ones on “Creative Convergence”, “Invention vs Innovation” (for the Open University Business School) and “Walking your way to thinking clearly.”

Des de Moor is a writer, walker, beer aficionado and musical performer the author of The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars, the award-winning definitive guide to drinking beer in London.  He was Everyday Walking Officer for the Ramblers and still freelances as a walking consultant, and leads beer heritage walks.

Grace Adam is an artist and lecturer. She trained as a painter, and has an M.A. in Sculpture and Installation from Chelsea College of Arts. She was a Fellow at Chelsea, and holds a PGCert. She is co creator and presenter on The Art Channel where she makes independent reviews, recent films include Anish Kapoor at Houghton Hall, and Bruce Nauman at Tate. Grace is History & Theory Co-ordinator on BA ID at Chelsea College of Arts. Gallery work includes: The Royal Academy of Arts, The Whitechapel Gallery, The Serpentine Gallery, The Courtauld, Tate and the National Portrait Gallery. In her own practice, she explores our environments, how we build, negotiate and use them, as well as concepts of the everyday. Adam exhibits regularly and has been Artist in Residence at institutions including St Giles in the Fields Church, Museum of Domestic Architecture, Whitechapel Gallery, HMP Prison Gartree, The Gibberd Trust, Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada as well as many schools and colleges. Site-specific Installations include Out of the Woods, the Act & Art of Remembrance, and a Socially Distanced Bench.   Look out for her Art Directions for the Museum of Walking. Her website is www.graceadam.com

Greg Packman is Senior Tree Inspector for the London Borough of Islington: covering Local Authority tree management and working with external clients such as Epping Forest, the Inner and Middle Temples, and Alexandra Palace. Formerly Greg worked as an Arboricultural Officer for the Royal Parks in London.Greg leads regular tree walks and presents on a number of tree management issues; particularly London plane trees and Massaria disease of plane, of which Greg has internationally recognised expertise. Greg also co-chairs the Ancient Tree Forum London group and was one of Pro Landscaper magazines ’30 Under 30: The Next Generation’ award in 2018. Look out for Greg’s Urban Forest Frontline events

Kel Portman is a former Senior Lecturer in printmaking, photography and digital imaging at the University of the Arts London. Portman regularly curates exhibitions and events in addition to working with other artists on projects initiated by landart collective ‘Walking the Land’ which he co-founded. These initiatives aim to raise awareness of the value of the landscape by engaging on walks, journeys and inviting a creative response from the wider community.

Katie Mccorkindale – also known as Greenwich Flower Girl – runs the innovative Flower Hut in front of Greenwich rail station.  She is co-creating “Follow your nose” a seasonal saunter to discover the flowery fragrances and reveal the less well known smelly histories of Greenwich. Read more and book yourself a place on a “Follow your nose” creative walkshop .

Kate McLean,  is an artist and designer, creator of ‘smellmaps’ of cities around the world. Her research concerns the visualisation of ‘smellscapes’ and how we might detect, record, understand and share the experience. She has mapped smells in Edinburgh and New York, as well as Singapore. In 2016/7 we ran four seasonal Follow you Nose walkshops with Kate.

Kevin Flude lectures at Central St Martin’s College and the Universities of Westminster and Worcester. He is a Course Directory for Road Scholar and has written several books on archaeology and history. He enjoys giving Guided Walks and Tours on the history, archaeology, museums and literature of London. In 2018 we collaborated on London Bridge Revealed: Medicine drawing on Kevin’s past role as Director of the Old Operating Museum.

Lucy Faherty is a Goldsmith’s Design graduate who has been researching the 1542 Paving Act.  Her most recent work explores scales of human impact on the environment, using the pavement as the site for this investigation.  Taking a trans-disciplinary approach of making and public engagement, she investigates the relationships between systems, places and people, striving to understand how they work and impact each other.

Martin Fidler – the creator of the Ruskin Walk – observes our cities and countryside through the visual and 3d artist’s eyes, with eclectic interests, there’s hardly a topic that Martin hasn’t investigated, and his enthusiasm for John Ruskin is infectious.  Read more about Ruskin Walks 

Peter Coles – urban nature writer and photographer, champion of the mulberry, has been co-creating intriguing Stalking Trees walkshops, in which participants get to know a thing or two about trees and how to photograph them.  Peter is also working with the Conservation Foundation to build awareness of the history of and to conserve London’s mulberries.  Read more and book yourself a place on a Stalking Trees walkshop or dip into the mulberry’s intriguing history.

Peter Fiennes, former publisher of Time Out Travel Guides, has turned his hand to writing books. Reviewers and book readers have loved his engaging and humorous prose his latest bestselling book: “Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers”. Discover our on-line Footnotes tours.

Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone is a prize-winning writer, editor, reviewer and creative writing teacher. Her novel, Home, about a corrupt care home, is published by Red Button Publishing and Glitches, her short story chapbook, is published by Acorn Books. A creative writing lecturer in several settings for over ten years, devising and delivering workshops for City, University of London (MA and Short Courses), Bishopsgate Institute, Emmanuel & Pembroke Colleges Cambridge, the Guardian and the Graham Greene Festival. She currently teaches on City’s Novel Studio and runs City Writes, a showcase event for students and alumni of Creative Writing Short Courses at City, University of London.

Ruth Broadbent is an artist and associate lecturer who specialises in drawing and sculpture, including combining the two.  Her current work explores the extension of line in drawing sculpture from imagines lines to walking and cycling tracks in the landscape. Ruth is delivering a drawing and sketching walkshop: ‘Drawn to the Skyline’ in Spring 2019.

Samantha Reis – is far too wise for someone so young and is helping participants to manage their minds, strengthen their emotional intelligence and mental resilience.  Together we are bringing her innovative guided meditations into our walkshop experience developing meditation walks to help people to think more clearly at the same time as getting gentle exercise.  Try a guided meditation here. Read more and join in as our plans develop.

Soho Simon – has been stretching his legs and our minds over wider and wider territories, he is currently working on a new series of walks based on diaries that feature specific neighbourhoods in London.

Tom Bolton – author, researcher, reviewer and walking historian with whom we have been tracing London’s Lost rivers and revealing neighbourhoods that have vanished from this great metropolis.  Read more about his enthusiasms and join us on a London’s Loss walkshop.

Travis Elborough –   “one of the country’s finest pop culture historians” (The Guardian). Travis has been a freelance writer, author, broadcaster and cultural commentator for nearly two decades. His books include Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, a survey of the British beside the seaside, The Long-Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl records that inspired the BBC4 documentary When Albums Ruled the World, in which he also appeared. The latest A Walk in the Park, a loving exploration of public parks and green space, was hailed as ‘a fascinating, informative, revelatory book’ by William Boyd. Using this book as the source we have co-created Parks, Pleasure & Politics walkshop for the Mayor of London’s National Park City Week 2018.