Caring for Built Heritage and Open Spaces

Where are you most at home: a poet’s drawing room, swimming in a pond, stately home’s gallery, at outdoor concerts, striding over open space or under glades of trees? Hampstead Heath is special to many people and has all of these. Importantly, they are all managed spaces.

Where architecture is described as the poetic use of light and space, the walking tour looks at the reciprocal nature of figure and ground, how we have defined, enclosed, curated or managed ‘nature’. Highlights include the relationship to one of our greatest sensory poets, Keats, who lived nearby.

With urban densification as policy, wellbeing and the environment emphasized against Covid and climate change, the significance of our open spaces are being redefined culturally. What does this mean for the future of our open spaces?

Presenters:
Rob Shakespeare, Principal curator Keats House
Paul Vick, FRSA, Founder Paul Vick architects
Officers of the Hampstead Heath Open Spaces Team