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Location Lambeth, London

10 lessons from London's first community fridge, Mar 14, 2017[1]

London's first community fridge launches in Brixton, Feb 9, 2017[2]

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Lambeth ( ) is a London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as Lambehitha ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as Lambeth. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier Street near Lambeth North tube station, though nearby Charing Cross on the other side of the Thames in the City of Westminster is traditionally considered the centre of London.

Lambeth topic pages[edit | edit source]

Networks and sustainability initiatives[edit | edit source]

Community resources[edit | edit source]

Library of things[edit | edit source]

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Crystal Palace Library of Things, link checked 17:24, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Upper Norwood Library[edit | edit source]

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Upper Norwood Joint Library is a community managed library in Upper Norwood, South London. It stands on Westow Hill, in Crystal Palace town centre, within the London Borough of Lambeth, but on the edge of the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. It is funded largely by Lambeth Council, and in part by Croydon Council, with the building itself managed by a community-run independent charity, the Upper Norwood Library Trust. It is part of the Lambeth network of libraries, and thus accepts Lambeth library membership cards.

Onsite is one of the first Library of Things, a self-service borrowing initiative active across local communities which lends objects instead of books from a conventional library. These objects include anything from garden tools to sports gear, toys to electro-domestic equipment. The Upper Norwood Library Hub, the operations arm of the Upper Norwood Library Trust, manages the building itself, and runs various classes, workshops and initiatives within the space. The library also has space available for private hire through the Hub.

Coin Street Community Builders[edit | edit source]

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Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) is a development trust and social enterprise which seeks to make London's South Bank a better place in which to live, to work, to visit and to study. Since 1984 CSCB has transformed a largely derelict 13-acre site into a thriving mixed-use neighbourhood.

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Since its creation in 1984, CSCB redeveloped the Oxo Tower Wharf, Gabriel's Wharf, Bernie Spain Gardens and set up four housing co-operatives (Mulberry, Palm, Redwood and Iroko). The housing co-operatives are housed in new buildings commissioned by CSCB. Palm (also known as Broadwall) was designed by Lifschutz Davidson (now Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands) completed in 1994. Iroko was designed by architects Haworth Tompkins and was completed in 2001.

In 2007, CSCB occupied new offices at the Coin Street neighbourhood centre, also designed by Haworth Tompkins. As well as offices the building includes a day nursery and crèche, conference and meeting facilities.

CSCB also offers a variety of community programmes for people of all ages including youth clubs, sports and dance sessions and family and children's activities

CSCB opposed the Garden Bridge project which would have been partially built on their land.

Visions[edit | edit source]

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Every Second Is The Future
Authors: What If Lambeth, Jun 16, 2021
  • What if Lambeth, community project organised by Transition Town Brixton and part of the Bounce Forward 2030 project.

Community energy[edit | edit source]

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Brixton Energy, not-for-profit co-operative who create cooperatively owned renewable energy projects

Climate action[edit | edit source]

  • Lambeth Citizens' Assembly, lambeth.gov.uk. Assembly to be launched in Spring/Summer 2021[3]
  • Lambeth for a Cool Planet on facebook

Environment quality[edit | edit source]

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Open spaces[edit | edit source]

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The London Borough of Lambeth, in spite of being close to the centre of London has over 64 areas of parks and open spaces, in addition to 34 play areas and eight paddling pools, within its boundaries. In common with all the London boroughs these green spaces provide "lungs" for the leisure pursuits of the inhabitants.

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Lambeth is a riverside borough, and one of the largest open spaces is the Thames itself, forming the northern boundary of the borough. A sign posted riverside trail forms a walkway for both pedestrians and cyclists.

Community involvement[edit | edit source]

Brixton Green, non-profit, registered mutual society, set up by Brixton people. Owned and run by locals - Lambeth Co-operative Council wiki - Open Works, a Lambeth Council project

Community currencies activism[edit | edit source]

Brixton Pound[edit | edit source]

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more video: Brixton Pound / Debate Your Plate.com

Summary: Brixton Pound, stimulates the local economy by supporting smaller shops and traders which operate in a challenging economic climate and in competition with larger chains. The currency stays in Brixton and circulates, increasing local trade and community connections.[4]

The Brixton district in South London's Lambeth borough has been a bastion of progressive thought and culture for decades. After the financial crisis of 2008, local businesses were struggling and had trouble securing loans from banks. An area that had once thrived began to stumble.

The Brixton Pound (B£) was launched in 2009 by Transition Town Brixton to support local businesses with a local currency that would "stick to Brixton." The founders of the B£ wanted to create a mutual support system tying residents to local businesses and encouraging business to source locally.

The local borough government, Lambeth Council, was supportive of the B£ from the beginning. It recognized the local currency as a way to develop the community, build local economic resilience, and draw positive attention to the area. According to B£ Communications Manager, Marta Owczarek, "The council's support has greatly helped the B£ start and develop — it would have been very difficult to do what we did without that support. In particular, it acted as a guarantee that the scheme was trustworthy, so local business owners and residents alike felt secure in exchanging their money into and accepting the brand-new local currency."

Within the first six months of the launch of the B£, Lambeth conducted research that estimated the media coverage of the currency generated by the B£ volunteers was worth half a million pounds to the area.

Since 2012, the B£ has "been a live part of the Co-operative Council, working alongside the policy team," according to Owczarek. As a result, the B£ has been able to play an active role in supporting the community while receiving council support. The B£ helped set up community spaces like the Impact Hub in the Town Hall. Lambeth helped the B£ create a mobile electronic payments system, and was also the first council to pay wages in local currency and accept a local currency for taxes. In 2014, the Lambeth Co-Operative Investment Fund gave the B£ funding to start a community lottery program, which was launched in 2015. The lottery increased the circulation of the B£, became an additional revenue source for the B£, and enabled the B£ to fund community projects.

The B£ has also helped Lambeth gain prominence globally and locally. In 2012, thanks to encouragement from the B£, the Council secured funding to join an international project to expand community currencies. On a local level, Lambeth won the Mayor's High Street Fund to install a local currency cash machine, possibly the first in the world.

Community safety[edit | edit source]

Community Police Consultative Group for Lambeth, Independent forum for community and statutory agencies to address community safety and policing issues.

Cycling activism[edit | edit source]

Cycling in Lambeth, news from Lambeth Council

Education for sustainability[edit | edit source]

Vauxhall City Farm

Food activism[edit | edit source]

Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses - Crystal Palace Food Market - Incredible Edible Lambeth - Pop Farm, Brixton

Reduce, reuse, repair and recycle[edit | edit source]

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Lambeth Freecycle(TM) - Remakery (formerly Brixton Reuse Centre) a springboard for local reuse enterprise

Sharing[edit | edit source]

see: Community resources

Towards sustainable economies[edit | edit source]

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Urban sustainability[edit | edit source]

West Norwood Feast brings a volunteer powered street market to Norwood Road on the first Sunday of every month

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External links[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia: Lambeth

References[edit | edit source]

FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Keywords london borough, library of things, visions uk
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 385 pages link here
Aliases Lambeth
Impact 816 page views
Created March 29, 2014 by Phil Green
Modified June 9, 2023 by Felipe Schenone
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