The City of London is where ancient traditions meet modern day - a place where you can watch sheep crossing Southwark Bridge in the morning, enjoy street food beneath towering skyscrapers at lunch, and sip cocktails in a rooftop garden by sunset.
The Mansell Street Mural
The Mansell Street Mural is a new piece of public artwork, commissioned by the City of London Corporation. The design was inspired by a period of community consultation in the local area.
It was commissioned to bring colour and vibrancy to the area and the beautiful design features plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables from around the world, representing the diverse communities that live and work around Aldgate.
Situated just down the road from Aldgate Square and the Petticoat Lane Market, why don’t you pop down and see what plants you can recognise, before heading out for a drink and a bite to eat?
Background to the project
The City of London Corporation worked with Urban Symbiotics, Accent London and the local community to produce this brand new public artwork for Mansell Street.
The mural project ran from March - October 2023 and involved consultation and collaboration with community groups, the commissioning of artists, producing the public artwork and developing creative workshops and activations for the local community.
Community Engagement
During the initial stages of the project, Urban Symbiotics got to know the local community through attending events of local groups. These included an Eid celebration, a local Mela event, workshops at local schools and sessions at the Portsoken Community Centre.
They also delivered pop-up sessions on Mansell Street in front of the mural wall, to talk to local residents as they went about their days. These sessions allowed them to get to know the community and what they cared about, inspiring the brief for the design.
Design
Once the local community were aware of the plans for the mural development, Urban Symbiotics and Accent London delivered a number of open sessions at the Portsoken Community Centre, to gain their input in the design of the artwork. These were attended by residents of the Mansell Street Estate and were a brilliant opportunity for people to voice their ideas (and any concerns they had) about the design and installation of the mural.
The artist was then able to re-develop their design to incorporate this feedback, resulting in the artwork you see today.
Key themes that came out of the community consultation were:
- A desire to see greening of an urban space.
- A desire for colour and vibrancy on the road.
- A desire to see plants and flowers from around the world, which mean something to the diverse communities of Aldgate.
- The priority for the artwork to compliment its surroundings, not clash with it.
Installation
The mural was installed by Accent London across two weeks in September 2023, during Destination City’s Bartholomew Fair event.
Who was involved in this project?
Urban Symbiotics
Urban Symbiotics are an insight and research led multi-disciplinary design, architecture and master-planning practice who specialise in working with communities to transform spaces. For the development of the Mansell St Mural, they led on engaging the local community in the development and delivery of the artwork, to ensure it was inspired by the people it is for.
Accent London
Accent London is a design studio that specialises in creating visual experiences and expressions of identity through bespoke artistic interventions in private, commercial and public realm spaces. After an open callout for artists, they were selected by the Destination City team and Urban Symbiotics to design and deliver the Mansell Street mural.
Destination City
The Destination City team celebrates, promotes, and supports the Square Mile’s unrivalled history and heritage, its world-class arts and culture, and its outstanding restaurants, cafes, hotels, pubs, and bars to UK and global visitors. Destination City sets out a vision for the Square Mile to become a world-leading leisure destination for UK and global visitors, workers, and residents to enjoy.
Contact Us
We hope you enjoy this artwork for many years to come. What plants can you see? What do they mean to you? Please do let us know what you think by contacting destination.city@cityoflondon.gov.uk
You can also get in touch if you have any concerns about the mural, such as damage or graffiti.
