Festival of Neighbourhood

What makes the perfect neighbourhood?

Allotments, a local beach, street parties and family games on the village green…?

This summer we are turning Southbank Centre into London’s finest neighbourhood – and you’re invited!

At Festival of Neighbourhood with MasterCard, there’s always something to do.

Be dazzled by a spectacular circus at London Wonderground. Hear from the best authors in the London Literature Festival. Celebrate our seminal 20th anniversary Meltdown, curated by worldwide cultural icon Yoko Ono.

The neighbourhood includes:

Neighbours And The Sweepers
Designed by Shipshape Arts, Neighbours and The Sweepers are inspired by activities and ideas about neighbourhood. The Sweepers draws inspiration from the 2011 London Riots and the idea that, ‘If every man would sweep his own doorstep, the city would soon be clean.’ Shipshape Arts are a group of artists and designers who build large-scale outdoor installations at UK festivals including Green Man Festival and Secret Garden Party.

Roll Out The Barrows
Roll out the Barrows demonstrates the need for green growing spaces in the city, the sanctity of green space in public and illustrates how much one can actually grow with very little space, whether it be a garden, balcony, window box or even a wheelbarrow. Using art and sculpture, Roll out the Barrows inspires new audiences to get into growing. It is a playful collection of small wheelbarrow gardens, all lined up and ready for action. Inspired by the forms of roller coasters, the plants flow around the space to inhabit, animate and create a place for interaction and engagement. Symbolising communities joining together, the barrows’ sum is bigger than their parts.

Grow Your Own Ideas
Artist Bob and Roberta Smith has created a series of flags that help us to think about neighbourhood and what it means to us. You can see these flags on the roofs of the buildings and on the Jubilee flagpole. The questions they ask embody the spirit of the festival. Each question will take you to a different part of your imagination, and help you to explore the ideas which are at the heart of the festival.

Queen’s Walk Window Gardens
The Queen’s Walk Windows Gardens are large-scale allotments created from reclaimed windows, spanning one of the busiest and most animated public spaces in the world.

Beano Town
Party in Beanotown to celebrate 75 years of The Beano! Beanotown is the home of Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, The Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, plus all the other comic strip superstars from The Beano. It’s a place where kids of all ages can enjoy laughs, jokes and pranks together and this summer it’s being brought to colourful life for the first time ever!

Sandy Neighbourhood
Designer James Bowthorpe has created miniature versions of buildings that neighbourhoods need to thrive, like libraries, town halls and hospitals. They have been cast from concrete, and inlaid with materials collected from the Thames along the South Bank. These buildings appear on Southbank Centre’s beach, but look up and see more houses in the trees, which light up at night.

See official website for full schedule of events.