City of Women reimagines Tube map to celebrate female and non-binary contribution to London

A new interactive Tube map, underpinned by UCL technology, aims to change the way we think about public spaces in our everyday lives. 

City of Women London is an interactive, digital map which has renamed well-known London Underground stations after significant women and non-binary people.  

The digital version was built using UCL’s Memory Mapper, an open-source spatial storytelling tool, developed by The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA).  

This collaborative public history project celebrates women’s role in London’s history, and aims to inspire those who live and work in the capital today.  

The project was led by writer Reni Eddo-Lodge and actor Emma Watson, in collaboration with writer and activist Rebecca Solnit, Transport for London (TfL), Haymarket Books, and interdisciplinary researchers at UCL.  

The digital version, led by Dr Leah Lovett (UCL CASA), allows people to learn more about each person and their lives. The online map is made up of featured biographies and interviews with contemporary women and non-binary people.

While the three project leads selected the individuals represented in the map, it is intended to serve as a starting point. The goal is to encourage people to think about cities’ hidden histories, and to tell their own stories too.  

UCL’s Leah Lovett reflects, “Our hope is that the interactive map will invite a deeper exploration of local heritage and the layered history of this city. With Memory Mapper, we are also handing over the tools for people to map the stories of places that are significant to them.”  

City of Women London, which has been running since early 2021, shows clearly how technology and tools developed for academic research can be applied in community projects. It’s already being used as a teaching resource in schools.   

The focus is now on delivering engagement and outreach, with a programme of talks and workshops, and a series of interviews by schools with living people on the map now available online.  

The print map is published by Haymarket Books and the digital map is available for anyone to access. Please contact Leah Lovett to discuss opportunities for engagement activities.

Further resources

• Read the full story in The Bartlett Review
• City of Women London
• Reni Eddo-Lodge, Emma Watson, and Rebecca Solnit launch Women’s History Project
• The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis

Contact 

Leah Lovett 
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis 
Email: l.lovett@ucl.ac.uk 

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