The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Tower Hamlets.
The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Tower Hamlets.
How London’s low emissions zone is helping children breathe easier, positive.news (Sep 01, 2026) Call for right to grow food on unused public land, BBC News (Aug 14, 2026) — Campaigners have called on City Hall to introduce a London-wide "Right to Grow" framework to help communities turn unused public land into food gardens The climate cafe where misery is 'empowering', BBC News (Jul 26, 2026) ‘It bloody works’: why the world’s oldest cheddar-maker uses a ‘milk-source’ heat pump, theguardian.com (Sep 17, 2026) British people understand the climate crisis threat. Today I’m empowering them to tackle it, Andy Burnham, theguardian.com (Sep 17, 2026) — With nearly £30m of funding, I’m giving communities power over local energy. They know the gravity of global heating, and they want to be part of the solution The Emergency: why communities must govern environmental resources, growingcommons.substack.com (Sep 15, 2026) — Childhood environmental lessons from a Stroud river keeper, Julian Jones Reclaiming the streets: the architects clawing back Europe’s car-centric spaces, theguardian.com (Sep 09, 2026) — The European Prize for Urban Public Space’s shortlist highlights projects helping people cope with climate crisis We’re the mayors of Paris, Milan and Phoenix. The heat crisis has us all facing the same question, Emmanuel Grégoire, Giuseppe Sala and Kate Gallego, theguardian.com (Sep 07, 2026) — Our three cities are learning from each other about how to protect residents. These climate policies are also public health measures European farmers face ‘unprecedented crisis’ after successive heatwaves, theguardian.com (Aug 17, 2026) Corporations claim their fossil fuel emissions are a drop in the ocean. But what if we could count the real cost? Graham Readfearn, theguardian.com (Sep 29, 2026) — A new tool called Carbon Impacts Tracer can be used to estimate climate impact from emissions across eight metrics, including lost food production ‘Small, flowering islands’: German city reveals how nature thrives when neighbours care for street tree beds, theconversation.com (Sep 21, 2026) Kim Stanley Robinson won’t read aloud his climate disaster scene from ‘The Ministry for the Future’, apnews.com (Sep 17, 2026) UK events
Sep 7 - 11, 2026 (Mon-Fri) — Zero Waste Week, zerowasteweek.co.uk Sep 11 - 20, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Heritage Open Days, celebrating our fantastic history and culture. Your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE to explore, heritageopendays.org.uk Sep 18 - 27, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Great British Beach Clean, mcsuk.orgGlobal or international events
Sep 15, 2026 (Tue) — Free Money Day, Global invitation for people to explore, in a liberating and fun way, what it might be like if our relationship to money was a little different. Sep 15, annually, freemoneyday.org Sep 18, 2026 (Fri) — Park(ing) day, global, public, participatory project where people across the world temporarily repurpose curbside parking spaces and convert them into public parks and social spaces to advocate for safer, greener, and more equitable streets for people, myparkingday.org Sep 21-27, 2026 (Mon-Sun) — Global Week Of Action For Peace And Climate Justice, climatemilitarism.org Sep 21, 2026 (Mon) — International Day of Peace, Globally shared date, Sep 21 each year for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace, internationaldayofpeace.org2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events
Since 2014, the council has embraced a policy of decentralisation by establishing neighbourhood forums. In 2014, the East Shoreditch Neighbourhood Planning Forum was set up which was followed in 2016 with the designation of a Limehouse Community Forum, an Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Forum, and a Spitalfields Neighbourhood Planning Forum. W
Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets helps residents find volunteering work and provides support to organisations involving students volunteers. W
Mudchute Park and Farm is a large urban park and city farm located in East London, in Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs. It is a local nature reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.
Stepney City Farm is a city farm in Stepney, London, England. It is situated on Stepney Way with its entrance on the roundabout leading onto Stepney High Street and Belgrave Street towards Limehouse. The land is owned by Tower Hamlets Council through a trust, "The King George's Fields Trust" which is chaired by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets.
The farm runs workshops in rural crafts through its resident artisans; blacksmith, woodworker and potter. In 2011, the farm created an 800 square metre community garden and added low-cost growing boxes for community use.
In May 2013 a cafe and shop selling farm-reared meat and eggs as well as vegetables grown on-site was opened. It is open to the public six days a week. There is a Farmers' Market every Saturday. It is the home of The Green Wood Guild, a green wood and traditional woodworking craft workshop run by Barn the Spoon.
The End Child Poverty coalition published that Tower Hamlets has the highest proportion of children in poverty of any local authority in the UK at 49% (and as high as 54.5% in the Bethnal Green South ward). W
St Margaret's House is a community centre in Bethnal Green in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was established in October 1889 as the Bethnal Green Ladies' Committee, with Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, as president. It has since become a charity supporting creativity and wellbeing in Tower Hamlets, running a variety of community projects providing spaces for residents to eat, shop, learn, create and enjoy cultural programmes.
The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation is a British non-profit research institute that works with communities, organisations, and policymakers to effect social change. It was founded in 1953 and is based in Toynbee Hall, East London. In 2005, it merged with the Mutual Aid Centre and was renamed The Young Foundation, in honour of its founder, the sociologist, social activist and politician Michael Young. In 2019, The Young Foundation relaunched the Institute under the auspices of chief executive officer Helen Goulden.
The Institute makes use of community-based participatory researchers to collect evidence.
Young served as the Institute's director until his death in 2002. In 2005, the Institute of Community Studies merged with the Mutual Aid Centre (another Young-founded organisation) and was renamed The Young Foundation. The Young Foundation then launched a re-conceived Institute for Community Studies as one of its constituent parts in 2019, with financial support from charitable trusts and private donors. The new Institute's stated mission includes "engag[ing] with people across the UK, with a focus on gathering public views and informing policy research."
The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Center inaugurated its relaunch with a study begun in 2019 and completed and published during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom entitled "Safety in Numbers?"
The Good Gym, run for good
A-Z recycling guide, information from Tower Hamlets Council
Tower Hamlets Borough Council operates a walking bus service for school pupils on agreed routes with some running every school day while and others once or twice a week depending on the number of adult volunteers involved. W
The Regent's Canal enters the borough from Hackney to meet the River Thames at Limehouse Basin. A stretch of the Hertford Union Canal leads from the Regent's canal, at a basin in the north of Mile End to join the River Lea at Old Ford. A further canal, Limehouse Cut, London's oldest, leads from locks at Bromley-by-Bow to Limehouse Basin. Most of the canal tow-paths are open to both pedestrians and cyclists. W
Lea Valley Walk W
National Cycle Route 1 W
There are over one hundred parks and open spaces in Tower Hamlets ranging from the large Victoria Park, to numerous small gardens and squares. The second largest, Mile End Park, separated from Victoria Park by a canal, includes The Green Bridge that carries the park across the busy Mile End Road. One of the smallest at 1.19 ha is the decorative Grove Hall Park off Fairfield Road, Bow, which was once the site of a lunatic asylum. Other parks include Altab Ali Park, Mudchute Park and Grove Hall Park.
The Green Bridge, information from Tower Hamlets Council
2010
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans the traditional East End of London and much of the regenerated London Docklands area, including Canary Wharf, one of the world's largest central business districts. The 2019 mid-year population for the borough is estimated at 324,745.
The borough was formed in 1965 by merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally an alternative name for the historic Tower Division; the area of south-east Middlesex, focused on (but not limited to) the area of the modern borough, which owed military service to the Tower of London, is located in the borough, adjacent to its western boundary with the City of London. Historically, Tower Hamlets is well known for the Whitechapel serial killings attributed to Jack the Ripper, which drew intense crime studies. The events later helped to push the government to pass the Housing of the Working Classes Act and the Public Health (London) Act 1891 which later improved housing and urban living conditions.
A 2017 study by Trust for London and New Policy Institute, found that Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of poverty, child poverty, unemployment, and pay inequality of any London borough. However, it has the lowest gap for educational outcomes at secondary level.
| Authors | Phil Green |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Cite as | Philralph (2014–2026). "Community action/Tower Hamlets". Appropedia. Retrieved October 1, 2026. |
