Greenground Map – first edition

Client: Personal work

Idea
Research
Design
Publishing
Social Media
Communication

First generation Greenground Maps grew out from a widely popular digital map I created in Spring 2019 to support the ideas of the London National Park City* movement. I initially printed 30 prototype maps in Spring 2020 and sold 100 maps over the summer. After a year I had sold 1000 London maps, more than 100 posters and created two more maps of Edinburgh and Bristol.

The main idea behind the map was to connect urban green spaces using the iconic London tube diagram format, inspiring people to see cities through their green infrastructure rather than transport network. Since it was first proposed the idea has received overwhelmingly positive feedback by the public and media with hundreds of shares and 100 K map downloads to date.

The first maps were open to comments in social media and were created by engaging the Twitter community, park friends and professionals, who suggested their favourite parks and green spaces for the maps. Based on personal research and community input the maps aim to change how we see cities and boost walking and cycling through nature.

‘Walker’s Tube Map’ Has Flourished Into Something Beautiful’
– Matt Brown, Londonist

Helen Ilus put a new twist on London mapping with her delightful “GreengroundMap”, a map of London’s green spaces and how best to navigate between them done in the style of the tube map.
– Steven Feldman, GeoMob Podcast

The project was featured by several media outlets such as Londonist, TimeOut and Positive News.