CORNERSTONE STRATEGIES LTD

Meg Abdy and Susan Williamson have long had an obsession with everyday urban life. What makes a place? Its people? Its processes? The daily grind, or the fantasies? Adopted Londoners both, they took a year in the life of a particular area of their city and wrote a series of stories called Walking Speed, aiming to capture some of the essence of inner London today. ...the cohorts and communities, routine and rituals that make up contemporary city life. The stories are rooted in a very distinct district (a rectangle formed by Theobalds Road, Southampton Row, Grays Inn Road and Euston Road), at a very specific point in time (the turn of the twenty-first century). However, many of the themes covered are placeless and timeless. Bloomsbury (or Holborn to the locals) has always been multicultural, transient, tolerant and subversive.

Walking Speed is based on 25 interviews with certain of the characters, and daily interaction with others - local residents, workers, visitors...and flaneurs. Their stories may have been embellished in places, but we have worked hard to remain true to their original spirit.

A central element of the stories is a map of the Bloomsbury area, commissioned from artist Lizzie Hill. The collaged map is built up in minute detail from old maps, scraps of newspaper and local fliers to explore the overlapping layers of local lives. Photographers Cara Firman and Anna Frisch captured the area in black and white, looking for local icons, both real and imaginary.