London's queer community needs architects and designers to help them create new social spaces, says Ben Campkin, co-author of a report charting the decline of LGBT+ venues across the city.
Campkin's research, carried out with Laura Marshall for the UCL Urban Laboratory, found that London's LGBT+ venues were fast disappearing ? down by 58 per cent in just 10 years. This research is the basis of an exhibition on show now at Whitechapel Gallery, Queer Spaces: London, 1980s - today.
Campkin, who is also professor of urban history and theory at The Bartlett, is calling for architects and designers to take a more active role in supporting the city's queer community, as well as other marginalised groups.
"There's an opportunity for architecture and design to play a more prominent role in some of these campaigns that are happening around queer space," he told Dezeen. "It's important for any professional in the built environment to think of social inclusion, especially in relation to people who have legally protected minority characteristics, because they're not necessarily the ones that are benefiting from development," he continued.
"There's always a need to proactively address those groups."
Campaign for new LGBT+ community centre
There have been no non-commercial LGBT+ venues in London since the closure of the London Gay and Lesbian Centre in Farringdon, an initiative by the Greater London Council, which was open from 1985 until the early 1990s.
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