Last week, the CB team took a trip to Canary Wharf to visit its Winter Lights Festival, the latest in a series of urban placemaking initiatives across the business district over the last decade. We were keen to see how public art, in this case light installations, has helped to bring the neighbourhood to life and attract new visitors.
Canary Wharf has long been a leading financial centre in London but free initiatives such as the Winter Lights Trail transform the destination from a place of work to a place of exploration and entertainment.
The cultural importance of these schemes should not be understated; across twelve installations, Canary Wharf has worked with artists and studios from across the world to create an audio-visual marvel which takes you through the entire campus. It was clear that visitors had made a purposeful trip to see the trail, demonstrating the draw and impact of cultural offerings to a destination.
The trail also takes you to the recently completed Eden Dock – a transformation of a previously underutilised space into an urban oasis, in collaboration with the Eden Project. It’s another reminder of the effort and investment being put into Canary Wharf’s public realm to create a welcoming space that gives back to the city and the environment.
