Or at least it could be.
Fleet Street might be known historically for its ‘rivers of ink’ as the former home to the nation’s newspapers, but London landscape designers have reimagined the iconic thoroughfare as a green boulevard, closed to traffic, and lined with plants and wildlife.
Architecture firm WATG teamed up with ‘guerrilla geographer’ Daniel Raven-Ellison to design the Green Block, a new building material containing native wildflower seeds and its own irrigation reservoir used to build ‘living buildings’.
They modelled the Green Block on Fleet Street for London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s public challenge to designate London a National Park City following the collapse of the Garden Bridge project. The image shows Fleet Street whittled down to a single bike lane, with stretches of road reclaimed for new Green Block builds, and adding greenery to existing cafes and shopfronts.
John Goldwyn, vice president of planning and landscape for WATG, said: “As landscape architects, we’ve been incredibly inspired by Mayor Khan’s commitment to the environment in the Capital. This idea claws back space from the roads and returns it to the people of London.”
Mr Raven-Ellison said: “I’ve been extremely inspired by the innovative thinking and support from London-based companies such as WATG.
“To make a greener future a reality for all Londoners, we need to work together and leverage our collective creativity and resources.”
The location of London’s first small-scale trial ‘green block’ will be revealed early next year.
