With funding from a London National Park City small grant, and in collaboration with Dr David Anderson, this research project explores how strategic communications networks and infrastructural development shape our cities and public spaces.
When the BT Tower opened in 1965, it was heralded as a symbol of ‘the technical and architectural skills of this modern age’. Offering the possibility of instantaneous telephonic and televisual communication, it was an icon of publicly owned national infrastructure.
For decades, the tower relied on clear, uninterrupted microwave paths routed through a network of repeater stations in outer London and the home counties. Any tall building constructed within these corridors risked causing signal loss or distortion. The BT Tower therefore acted as a brake on development in this part of the West End, shaping both the skyline and the formation of public squares and parks.
Sixty years on, in the context of the tower’s planned re-development into a hotel and leisure facility, we have invited Londoners to think about ‘signals and sightlines’ in new ways, reflecting on what we can’t see, as well as what we can.
Outputs from the project include:
- a series of guided walks, organised during the London Walking Festival, Open House Festival, and as part of the Critical Debates in Interdisciplinary Urban Studies module of the MSc Urban Studies at UCL;
- the creation of a narrated audio guide and step-by-step route instructions in the Go Jauntly app;
- the production of a pamphlet with research excerpts and a route guide available across venues in Fitzrovia.
- a launch event for the publication at the London National Park City Visitors Centre.
You can access a pdf version of the pamphlet, or pick up a physical copy at the London National Park City Visitors Centre (80 Mortimer Street, London W1W 7FE), or The Building Centre (26 Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT).
If you don’t have access to the Go Jauntly app, you can follow the route using the online map and Spotify for the audio guide.
The graphic design for the project was created in collaboration with Clara Robson and Maks Rzeszotarski.
