Come and co-define Croydon’s town centre

15 April 2024

In collaboration with local arts organisation Turf Projects and artists Melody Akanji, Lina Ivanova, RESOLVE Collective and Asha Fontenelle we are hosting a series of events to shape a vision for Croydon Town Centre for the next 15 years.

Through workshops with seldom heard audiences, a permanent interactive display at Croydon Urban Room in the heart of the town centre and a Sounding Board with a range of stakeholders, we will test emerging ideas that have been informed by our previous ‘explore’ and ‘imagine’ phases of engagement.

We’ll be occupying Croydon’s newly opened Urban Room through the ‘Croydon’s Future Spaces’ exhibition between 18th April - 25th May on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays between 10am and 5pm.

We will also be hosting in person workshops at the Urban Room:

11am on 27th April
4pm on 3rd May
11am on 4th May

All are welcome to attend these workshops and the exhibition.

“We’ve got this attitude now that any group of people gathering is bad [but] we need time with our friends and our family and if we don’t have a physical space to go then we’ll find our own and that’s going to be streets. Croydon was not the best place, but it was our place. Community spaces can build hope, family and local pride and personality.”

Workshop attendee

“I miss the vibrant and diverse nightlife that Croydon had at one point, the weird and varied small businesses that used to inhabit the Whitgift Centre, the live music spaces.”

Survey response

We have heard the short terms priorities that people need addressed to make the town centre a welcoming, safe and exciting place that works for all. We have heard that people want to see innovative approaches to addressing vacancy that address wider access of access of skills, employment and social spaces. Previous workshops have also identified places that are central to Croydon’s identity, both existing and those that have been lost.

“When I moved back when I was 17, I walked into the Surrey street Market again, and I heard the exact same woman shouting, Pound a Bowl, Pound a Bowl, and I literally felt like I was four years old again.”

Workshop attendee

Our current engagement activities will test the ‘key moves’ that should form the core of a vision for the town centre, which will shape a spatial framework and delivery plan that maps out how the council and its partners can steer growth in the coming years.

If you would like to know more about how to get involved please contact info@croydonurbanroom.com

About Croydon Town Centre Regeneration Strategy
Croydon Council appointed a multi-disciplinary team led by We Made That to deliver the strategic vision of the regeneration of Croydon Town Centre through a programme of community-led activities. The team is supported by experts in the following fields: GHPA, planning; PRD, socio-economic development; Useful Projects, climate change and sustainability; Turf Projects, community engagement; Place Services, heritage and conservation, Civic Engineers, infrastructure and transport; Stockdale, finance.

Meeting the Council’s ambitions to be as inclusive as possible, the series of activities will give all residents, businesses, and partners the opportunity to influence the vision for Croydon over the next 15 years. Key to shaping the vision is the borough’s diverse community groups, residents and businesses. The programme of workshops will explore the future of Croydon town centre and will run through to Autumn 2024, offering residents, businesses and partners the opportunity to get involved.