Our mission is to ensure LFA is as inclusive, safe, sustainable and impactful as possible. Each year we work with our community of partners and organisers to work towards making this happen.
Although the Festival is temporary, due to its capacity for meaningful collaborations, conversations and creations, the impact of the Festival often goes much further beyond the month of June, helping to shape a more equitable and sustainable city and industry in the long term.
To ensure this long-term approach remains a key driving force for LFA programmes and outputs, post pandemic we introduced a stronger set of criteria for LFA events and projects, and increased guidance around how to create inclusive, safe and sustainable Festival activity for all LFA partners and collaborators to read through and implement with the creation and delivery of their LFA projects.
Events and projects which demonstrate a positive long-lasting impact on the city, and deep thought around these ideas of equity, sustainability and impact will be prioritised. Events are no longer accepted into the programme if the LFA team cannot understand the steps being taken in each of these areas.
Using the links below you can find some initial guidance on the areas mentioned above:
- Guidance on how to ensure your event is inclusive here
- Guidance on how to ensure your event is safe here
- Guidance on how to ensure your event is sustainable here
Once you have consulted the pages above, you can refer to this list of prompts on LFA mission areas here, at each stage of planning and delivering your Festival activity.
Please note:
When submitting your LFA2025 activity, you will be asked to respond to a series of questions how they respond key value areas of the Festival (Inclusivity, Sustainability and Impact) and the New London Agenda.
These are:
- What is the reason for this event? (How does this event help move us toward a more equitable and sustainable city and industry?)
- Which New London Agenda points does it align with?
- What steps are you taking to ensure your event is accessible, and safe – with a particular focus on audiences who are disabled, less represented or come from a non-architectural background?
- What steps are you taking to ensure your event is sustainable?
In each of the guidance areas for sustainable and inclusive events you can find examples of answers which won’t be accepted, and those which we have championed in previous years. You can find examples for the impact of your event below.
Answers which are not acceptable
- “Given the nature of our event, there is no long-term impact other than the positive impact of raising awareness of individual attendees happiness and wellbeing.”
- “TBC”
Positive examples from previous years
“Our LFA event is building on the impact of inclusive practice as discussed at LFA2022 – A much-needed conversation which the wider architectural community should be having. We have also considered a long-term follow up with “Supportive Practice” quarterly sessions: We could offer a google document for people to contribute ideas of topics they would like to discuss and take turns hosting these online” – Healthy (Work)places for Women (Talk)
“We are looking to develop a long-term course on the reuse of heritage assets, run by the LSA. The discussion that forms part of that event will inform the content and we hope to be a long term legacy for London and community led projects within it. The AHF will also use the discussion to help inform its own future programmes.” – How can community and social enterprise ownership of heritage assets help bring communities together? (Talk)
“This event will showcase an area that is often known only for its station, but which has a vibrant community, arts scene, diverse businesses and an engaged residential community. The content of the panel discussion and input from the Q&A will be written up and fed back to all the relevant organisations delivering schemes in Waterloo – including developers, Network Rail, Council and employer organisations, including BIDs – to ensure these views are considered as part of the broader consultation on the proposals.” – Waterloo: Station destination (talk)
“There are plans to develop the concourse of the Rec into a more usable more friendly space. This concert is an opportunity to bring attention to that cause and show what is possible. It will continue to the work to make more spaces more accessible and more useful for community groups.” – Brixton Re:Created (performance)
“The event will act as educational tool in circular economy and natural building techniques – deepen understanding of where building materials come from, how they are processed and why this is often unsustainable – inspiring and encouraging participants to think about their choices of materials in a more sustainable way.” – Build Together: Community Building at the Story Garden (Talk/Workshop)
Please note:
The guidance above is working guidance, so it does not have all the answers and is not exhaustive. If you have any questions that are not covered in these pages, or feel there is something that needs to be expanded on or challenged, do get in touch with the LFA team by emailing info@londonfestivalofarchitecture.org.
For support with your event, you can also sign up for one of the LFA Mentor Surgery Days. Information on the Mentor Surgery Days can be found in the account section of the LFA website here.
We understand that the goals above might look very different for each event, depending on event type and size of event or organisation. Therefore, every event or project is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, we believe that every organiser is able to take at least one action in each area to ensure the inclusivity, legacy and sustainability of their Festival activity. The Festival may be temporary, but the impact shouldn’t be.
Alternative formats of the resources above (Such as Easy Read or Audio Described versions) are available on request. Please ask us for this information in alternative formats by dropping an email to info@londonfestivalofarchitecture.org.