In a series of live broadcasts 8 to 18 June 2021, we introduced our new programme, Concrete Designs to Thrive, outlining some key themes.

Our Concrete Walk by Design was an event series within Archifringe21, each a separate stop and conversation, which together form a walking route in central Edinburgh.Using your contributions from our live events, we are mapping the new walking route for future use. 

Given the Covid 19 restrictions of 2020,  the ‘walking group’ at each event was limited to those talking and our support crew. We are grateful for those who accepted our warm invite you to join a wider audience, live and online at each event.

Our new Walk by Design in East Belfast celebrates linen heritage along the river Connswater and the extraordinary urban design of the Connswater Community Greenway itself. The walk was co-designed with local walkers and the expert Greenway guides. The Greenway is a 9km linear park in East Belfast following the course of the Connswater, Knock and Loop Rivers, connecting the open and green spaces. The route is gradually being transformed into a high quality, vibrant, attractive, safe and accessible parkland. Local residents and visitors alike use the area for leisure, recreation and community events and activities. You can find out more about the Connswater Community Greenway by visiting their website at http://www.connswatergreenway.co.uk/

During the EastSide Arts Festival 2020 local people were invited to attend an event to help design a new walk, sharing time and stories together to plot a new Linen Walk By Design. Journeys in Design worked closely with the expert guides of the Connswater Greenway team to ensure a safe route focusing on allied linen heritage. The planning walk took place  on Wednesday 12 August, when 25 people joined the event, and offered their creative contributions so the final route took its lead from local people, bringing local linen stories and heritage to life in and around the river.  

You can find out more about the Connswater Community Greenway by visiting their website at http://www.connswatergreenway.co.uk/

Walking out from Dovecot Studios, we trace the development of shopping in the capital from linen halls, luckenbooths and lawnmarkets to draperies and department stores, stopping at contemporary design interventions en route (dates September 2019 to January 2020). Our inaugural walkers contributed their stories of shops long gone supplementing our own research into the British Linen Bank and the development of retail architecture. We give emphasis to the circular economy of the built enviroment by spotting repurposed buildings en route including the Dovecot Studio itself, a former municipal bath house and swimmng pool. 

Our stroll out from the Custom Hose in Leith is a celebration of the creative energies contributing to this vibrant quarter today, reflecting on migration and maritime heritage emerginhg from Our Linen Strories exhibtion in 2019. Our inaugural walk stopped at 7 key design interventions and was supplememnted by tales from story teller Jan Bee Brown and Mark Watson of Historic Enviroment Scotland 

Kirkcaldy is known as the ‘Lang Toun’ as its High Street was considered the longest in Scotland, on the rise up from the sea, hugging the meandering Fife coastline. Liaising with the local community in Kirkcaldy, Journeys in Design designed a walk focusing on contemporary Design features and local Linen Heritage as part of Our Linen Stories programme in 2018 and 2019. Insights from those on the inaugural walk contributed to our final mapping project. 

Walking west out from Edinburgh's Gayfield Square at the top of Leith Walk, encounter seven key creative interventions en route between the city's many green spaces. Curators Anna Feintuck and John Ennis design a 90 minute walk, collaborating with National Library Scotland using old maps, new mapping techniques and insights from our inaugural walking group. 

Walking south out from Edinburgh's Gayfield Square at the top of Leith Walk, encounter seven key creative interventions en route between the city's many green spaces. Curators Anna Feintuck and John Ennis design a 90 minute walk, collaborating with National Library Scotland using old maps, new mapping techniques and insights from our inaugural walking group. 

Walking east out from Edinburgh's Gayfield Square at the top of Leith Walk, encounter seven key creative interventions en route between the city's many green spaces. Curators Anna Feintuck and John Ennis design a 90 minute walk, collaborating with National Library Scotland using old maps, new mapping techniques and insights from our inaugural walking group. 

As part of our Summer 2015 programme, locals and visitors were invited to participate in 20 minute lunchtime Garden Walks. These walks retraced and renewed the 1876 pathway around the original Gayfield Square planting scheme, long gone. Guest walkers and outdoor health groups were scheduled to join the walkers.